Explosions last month at a plant in China have pushed up the price of polysilicon, the raw material for solar panels, raising costs for governments keen to stimulate the use of renewable energy.
Prices for polysilicon have risen by over 50 per cent since a series of blasts at the site in the country’s Xinjiang region in July. They are likely to go higher, due to the spread of coronavirus into the region, according to analysts.
The incident highlights the global solar industry’s reliance on China, which produced about 67 per cent of the world’s polysilicon last year, according to Bernstein, a broker. Nine of the top 10 solar cell makers are Chinese.