Intersolar: Global PV growth to top 50 GW in 2015, report says

Share

In its latest annual Global PV Market Report, launched at this year’s Intersolar Europe, currently being held in Munich, Germany, the PV Market Alliance estimates cumulative PV installations of 50 GW in 2015, up from the 40 GW installed last year.

Leading the charge will be China, which has recently raised its PV installation targets to 17.8 GW, having missed its previous two annual targets. In a report released by SolarPower Europe, formerly the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA), the association said China had installed 5 GW of PV in Q1. Achieving this year’s target, it continued, will be contingent on a number of factors, chiefly "unlocking" the distributed market.

The PV Market Alliance says China could remain the top PV market until the end of the decade, unless India manages to play catch up. In Bridge to India’s India Solar Handbook, also released at Intersolar, it said the country’s growing solar capacity could see it enter the international top five. For this year, it estimates growth of 250%. It added that while 2014 saw only 3 GW installed, it could increase this to 100 GW by 2022.

Speaking to pv magazine today at Intersolar, Gyanesh Chaudhary, the CEO of Vikram Solar further said that India’s module manufacturing capacity now standing at almost 3 GW and that the country’s solar manufacturers had "come of age."

?Japan, which connected around 9.7 GW of PV in 2014, according to SolarPower Europe, is also set to boost global solar growth, as is the U.S., which added over 6.5 GW last year. In Q1 2015, it installed 1.3 GW, according to figures from the U.S. Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research, which added that solar energy accounted for 51% of all new energy generation in the quarter.

In the next five years in Europe, markets are expected to stagnate, before growing again, "powered by lowered prices and new business models." Decreasing prices and innovative business models should also help the U.S. after the expiration of its Federal 30% ITC.

Like SolarPower Europe, the PV Market Alliance says market growth up to 2020 will be uncertain, but that PV capacity could reach between 70 to 90 GW in 2020. The right frameworks and market design need to be in place. If not, the market could stumble, said the association earlier in the week in its comments on growing the solar market to 2020.

2017 onwards will see a high period of uncertainty, says the PV Market Alliance, again mirroring SolarPower Europe’s analysis, due to potential policy changes in established markets like China and the U.S., and due to the high expectations on emerging markets, like India.

Popular content

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Share

Related content

Elsewhere on pv magazine...

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.