REGIONALOUTLOOK
local marketplace as well as an increase in manufacturers and suppliers. In July 2009 the government amended the initial Feed in Tariff (FiT) scheme with a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) which some local experts believe could see the installations rise to 200MW by 2012. The RPS will both expand the local market while protecting the local industry more. The hope is for a greater number of residential solar systems. The government has announced a ‘million houses’ in their renewable energy platform.
The rate of expansion of the market has provided unexpected challenges as well as bringing the expected ones to the fore. There is a view that South Korea should focus on standardization in the field of PV technologies to increase the level of domestic technical expertise and competence and prevent unqualified or inferior products from selling as qualified ones.
“The market is flooded with cheap, uncertified products, mostly from China. The Korean solar industry needs to have standards in place for PV technologies and products to provide the customers with reliable, qualified products. The standards should desirably be at the same level with internationally recognized standards such as IEC or UL, in which case it would make it easier for the Korean companies to successfully enter foreign markets,” says Joo-Nam Yoo, Deputy Head of SBU at LAPP KOREA, a supplier of cables and lines.
In 2008, South Korea came 4th in the list of installed PV capacity according to EPIA statistics. This position was achieved thanks to a favourable feed-in tariff system with a cap of 500 MW in 2008. However, since the Korean government changed its successful feed-in tariff system in 2008, the Korean solar energy market has experienced a period of cooling down. While many in the Korean solar industry are now longing for new incentives that could create new business opportunities for the future, some are suggesting that Korean solar companies need to respond globally before the local market runs out of steam.
Kyong-Moon Chang, CFO of RENA Korea, a producer of wet chemical equipment for PV, says, “Solar is more than a movement, it’s a rapidly growing economy on a global scale. Korean solar companies should not limit their possibilities to the domestic market. They should look outside and prepare themselves for the next big thing.”
The conference in South Korea will not be limited to local issues and a number of regions will present recent challenges and solutions.
Italy’s Big PV Rush
The Italian photovoltaic market has been growing steadily and is now tipped to be a fast growing concern. A very attractive support scheme, high solar radiation averages and a thriving local industry have contributed to developing one of the most promising marketplaces in the world. With annual gross sales in excess of 1.2 billion euros, the Italian PV industry has cultivated a competitive edge that has attracted important investors from every corner of the globe.
A preliminary report published earlier 2010 by the Italian Department of Energy estimates that in 2009 the renewable energy market in Italy grew more than 13% over 2008, reaching an overall capacity of 66 Terawatt hour—a number largely corresponding to one fifth of the country’s gross energy consumption. In this scenario, the growth of Italian photovoltaic industry has played the lion’s share with gross sales of 1.2 billion euros, up by 300% in comparison to the previous year. In terms of energy output, by the end of 2009 the overall installed power of Italian grid-connected PV systems monitored by GSE (Gestore dei Servizi Energetici, a publicly-owned company promoting and supporting renewable energy sources) almost reached its first gigawatt.
Franco Traverso, President and CEO of Silfab S.p.A., says, “At the current pace, the total photovoltaic power installed by December 2010 is estimated to climb to 2 GW, reinforcing Italy’s leadership as the second world’s photovoltaic market in terms of annual growth, second only to Germany.”
Gondolas in front of the Doge's Palace, Venice, Italy
23
www.solar-pv-management.com Issue V 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80