- Market analysts agree that the solar PV industry is booming. Last week, NPD Solarbuzz put a number on the market size of this industry by 2018: $50 billion in revenues.
- According to NPD Solarbuzz, the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry is set for rapid growth over the next five years.
- NPD Solarbuzz expects up to 100 gigawatts (GW) annually by 2018, reaching a market size of $US50 billion in 2018. In 2013, the total new installations was 37 GW.
- This strong growth of demand will further stimulate revenues for the industry’s manufacturers, with PV module revenues of more than $US200 billion over the five year period from 2014 to 2018.
- NPD sees crystalline silicon (c-Si) based modules as the dominant technology, increasing is market share over the competing thin-film variants. Between 2014 and 2018, 91 percent of solar PV modules produced are forecast to be c-Si types.
- Average module selling prices are expected to decline moderately over the next few years and are forecast to reach $US0.51 per watt (W) in 2018.
- “The industry will soon transition to a phase of profitable growth, with solar PV competing directly with traditional forms of energy”, says vice-president Colville of NPD Solarbuzz.
- All market analyses point at the US, China and Japan as the markets to watch in 2014. Two-thirds of all solar panels installed in the last quarter of 2014 will be located in China, Japan, and the US.
- Key challenges for the growth of solar PV remain: Government incentives and policies, and razor-thin margins throughout the solar value chain.
Source: Business Spectator.
