PVTIME – A market analysis by Sinovoltaics verifies that Turkey currently has Europe’s largest operational PV module manufacturing base, with a running capacity of 13.205GW, which exceeds the collective operational volume of 9.779GW in the EU. This operational landscape contrasts with policy and industry projections of a revival in indigenous European solar manufacturing capabilities.
Turkey’s installed module capacity is forecast to reach 23.2GW between 2027 and 2030. This expansion includes Chint New Energy’s upcoming facility in Balıkesir and a 5GW solar cell manufacturing project in Düzce, which is being developed jointly by Jietai Technology and Schmid-Pekintaş. Meanwhile, Europe’s existing upstream solar manufacturing capacity stands at 5.3GW for solar cells, 1.2GW for ingot and wafer production, and 27.6GW for polysilicon output. Wacker, a German company, dominates the regional polysilicon supply. Other silicon production initiatives in the region primarily manufacture metallurgical-grade silicon, which is not suitable for solar applications.
Sinovoltaics’ Chief Executive, Dricus de Rooij, has acknowledged the long-standing efforts within the sector to repatriate solar manufacturing activities within the EU. Market trends show that new module assembly capacity is growing more quickly in Turkey than in EU member states, while domestic European production of core upstream PV components remains limited. Much of the manufacturing capacity counted in European industry statistics falls outside EU jurisdiction and cannot be recognised as domestic manufacturing under official policy benchmarks.
The latest Sinovoltaics industry database outlines a wide-ranging pipeline of proposed European PV manufacturing projects, spanning 88.2GW of modules, 65.2GW of solar cells, 46.7GW of ingot and wafer products, and 68.4GW of polysilicon. The completion of these projects would greatly strengthen Europe’s PV supply chain between 2027 and 2030. However, there is significant uncertainty in the developer pipeline, with 61% of planned module capacity still in the preliminary announcement phase. Of the 183 manufacturing projects being tracked, 28 have been suspended or cancelled, including Meyer Burger’s cell production scheme and Solarwatt’s proposed factory shutdown.
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