Wood Mackenzie evaluated more than 30 solar PV module manufacturers across the globe. The final ranking reflected nine different criteria, including module manufacturing experience, manufacturing capacity and growth rate, vertical integration, capacity utilisation, technology maturity, research and development, financial performance, adherence to ESG (environmental, social and governance) and CSR (corporate social responsibility), and availability of third-party certification.

Nine out of the top 12 manufacturers in the market analyst’s latest global solar PV module manufacturer rankings are Chinese companies (see Table 1). All are Asian. Eight out of the 12 in the ranking are self-sufficient in cell capacity, with Tongwei and Risen the only manufacturers in the ranking that are fully vertically integrated through the whole supply chain from polysilicon to module, notes the report.

Seven out of the 12 ranked manufacturers are each forecast to exceed 100 GW of module production capacity by 2027, while the total capacity of wafers and cells of the top-ranked companies is expected to reach 830 GW in the next three years, which is enough to satisfy global demand twice over, suggests Wood Mackenzie.

In terms of capacity and growth rate, 10 out of the 12 manufacturers had over 100% growth in the past four years, according to the report.

The report also found that the top-ranked manufacturers continue to expand despite the oversupply of manufacturing capacity. At the same time, manufacturers are focused on becoming more vertically integrated.

Table 1: Top 10 solar PV module manufacturer ranking in 2023 

Source: Wood Mackenzie

Note: Both 5th place and 10th place were awarded to two companies each due to close scores, within 0.3 of each other.