Jul 20 2008
The Global PV Market is Facing Some Turbulent Times. For Survivors, Market Prospects Will Be Infinite.
The enormous growth in the solar industry will lead to an oversupply situation in the short term; however, grid-parity could be reached in three to four years' time leading to an infinite market. This is one of the conclusions to emerge this week from a free market report released by solarplaza.com.
The report provides an overview of the different market forces driving the global demand for solar power and discusses the probability and consequences of an oversupply situation.
The first part of the report discusses some the demand dynamics in the world's major PV markets. Germany, Spain and the USA-the world's three largest markets-face uncertainties regarding their government subsidy programs. Next year and in subsequent years, Germany's government will be lowering its feed-in tariff by 9%. The current feed-in tariff in Spain ends in September this year without any new scheme having yet been put forward. Rumor has it that the tariff is set to decrease by more than 30% (EUR0.29/Wp). Meanwhile, the world's largest potential market-the USA-depends chiefly on a government tax credit which will expire at the end of 2008.
The second part of the report discusses some of the developments on the supply side. The availability of alternative and cheaper production methods, such as thin-film, and the increase in product supply (silicon, wafers, and cells) will put pressure on the price of solar (crystalline) modules.
The report concludes with a comparison of supply and demand and a forecast for the years to come. According to the author of the report, Edwin Koot (CEO of SolarPlaza), uncertainties in the major markets and the situation on the supply side will lead to fierce competition, a lower module price, and a surge of consolidations.
This market demand report is freely available at solarplaza.com.
On September 2, SolarPlaza is organizing the international solar expert conference entitled "Demand Dynamics in the Major PV markets, where do all the modules go?" For more information, please visit: http://www.globaldemandconference.com