While this is covered in more detail in our ESG report today as well as our daily report, we highlight the Wacker results below. This confirms a key inflation fear for renewable power, as we see the rapid increase in silicon and polysilicon sales at Wacker – Exhibit below. Wacker has certainly seen significant volume growth between the periods highlighted, but the step-up in demand will have allowed the company to move prices up., something we have been noting for months, but it is good to have confirmation. This is additional cost pressure for the solar panel manufacturers and is driving solar module prices higher. Given the expected demand growth for solar installations, we see no reason why this demand-pull should ease any time soon. While this is a problem for the solar industry, their materials suppliers could do very well for many years.
