WoodMac

U.S.-owned analyst Wood Mackenzie expects solar demand to decline but predicts the market will recover, with the prospects for the energy transition remaining intact.

As the outbreak takes its toll on solar panel and battery manufacturing in China, Australia is bracing for disruptions in the supply chain.

WoodMac analysts say the amount of new battery manufacturing capacity added in the nation this year could fall by as much as 10% because of the outbreak. With Tesla’s Shanghai gigafactory affected by the extended new-year-holiday shutdown, the analyst warned of potential supply shortages for Australia and the U.S. and U.K.

With electric vehicles making up only 3% of the global car market last year, analyst WoodMac says battery packs need to be cheaper and lighter and range anxiety must be addressed to change the habits of drivers.

Analyst WoodMac has spelled out the urgent need to decarbonize the global hydrogen production industry. While the fuel can offer a sustainable grid balancing act for intermittent renewables, in its current fossil-fuel driven form it is pumping out more than 800 megatons of carbon into the atmosphere every year.

Increasingly affordable and free from the Trump administration’s solar tariffs, bifacial modules are only set to get more popular in the years ahead. In its first report on bifacial PV, WoodMac predicted the technology will make up 17% of global installations five years hence, quadrupling the share it will have this year.

The cost of solar power generation in India has fallen to half the level seen in many other markets in the region due to extensive solar resource, market scale and competition.

The world’s biggest solar market could be about to replicate that feat in energy storage, provided it manages to reform the payment system for rewarding the grid services offered by batteries.

Traditional power Germany and a rejuvenated Spain will top the chart for new capacity additions as Europe prepares to hit more than 250 GW of new PV by 2024. Small scale systems for self-consumption will play a big role, according to consultants WoodMac.

Scottish consultancy Wood Mackenzie has raised its 2019 forecast with Florida and Texas starting to deliver on their potential as the U.S. solar market returns to growth.