The latest issue of Worldwide Quarterly Photovoltaic Module Tracker, brought out by IDC Energy Insights, forecasts that the worldwide solar photovoltaic (PV) module shipments will achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% in the period from 2010 to 2015.
It anticipates that a notable level of growth will be achieved in the Asia/Pacific (barring Japan) region and the USA with shipment of PV modules worth 30 GW and valued around $330 billion.
As per the data provided by IDC Energy Insights, in the year 2010 the PV shipments to the United States and to the Asia/Pacific region (barring Japan) has achieved a growth level of 5.8% and 9.3% respectively. It predicts that in the year 2015 the two markets will achieve a growth level of 17.5% and 25.6%, thus creating newer openings for PV vendors who will be shifting their concentration from the European PV markets, which was leading the shipments in 2010.
The report narrates that PV module shipment has achieved around 160% growth in 2010 when compared to 2009 with 21.6 GW. It states that the first quarter of 2011 witnessed a decline when compared to that of the fourth quarter of 2010 and bounced back again in the second quarter of 2011 with over 42% increase over the first quarter and decline of just 9% when compared to the second quarter of 2010. It explains that the worldwide PV industry currently experiences a stable but flat level of growth with no upheavals compared to 2010 and predicts that the recent changes in the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program of Italy and spirited growth targets set in China and India will alter the outlook of the PV industry in the ensuing years.