Boom in Solar Panel, EV Battery Factories Brings Net Zero Closer

Industrial capacity to churn out panels, turbines and electrolyzers for the clean energy transition is growing fast, according to a new IEA analysis.

Wafers for solar cells at a factory in South Korea.

Nathaniel Bullard

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If the world is to reach net zero emissions by mid-century, we will need to install several times more wind turbines and solar panels than we are adding today, as well as many times more batteries, hydrogen electrolyzers and heat pumps. That requires manufacturing them first.

A new analysis from the International Energy Agency shows the current industrial picture for clean energy. It updates the agency's latest report on energy technology after only a few months, and for good reason: Clean-tech manufacturing is expanding so fast that solar and battery manufacturing capacity are now on track to meet the 2030 milestones set out in the IEA's scenario for net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.