The Global PV Market: Fasten Your Seatbelts
17/07/2008 09:31
PR Newswire
ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands, July 17 /PRNewswire/ --
- 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
For further information, please contact: Johan Trip, CGO of SolarPlaza, +31(0)10-280 9198; e-mail: j.trip@solarplaza.com
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