IEA PVPS has updated its public photovoltaic life-cycle inventory benchmark after more than a decade. The update covers TOPCon and PERC silicon supply chains, cadmium-telluride modules and balance-of-system components.
The monocrystalline datasets draw on 83 quality-screened factory-level life-cycle assessments. They represent 29% of global polysilicon capacity, 16% of wafer capacity, 7% of cell capacity and 9% of module capacity.
Buyers can use the benchmark to strengthen environmental-product comparisons, LCA tender requirements and supplier-disclosure requests. Project teams should compare like-for-like system boundaries rather than treating one reported value as a universal product ranking.