Solar PV enters uncertain new chapter

Driving out forced labour and embedded emissions from supply chains will hike module costs

The assumption that solar PV costs will continue falling forever is crashing into messy market and geopolitical realities. The polysilicon spot price has spiked since the New Year amid frantic buying stoked by fears of shortages, which in turn exacerbated supply chain bottlenecks. Prices might have peaked for now, but US lawmakers are pushing to crack d…