NEWSREVIEW PV BoS to hit $24 Billion in 2016
PV BALANCE of system (BoS) equipment revenues are projected to increase from $17 billion in 2011 to close to $24 billion in 2016 according to a new market report from IMS Research. The report found that whilst inverters will continue to be the largest part of the market, monitoring hardware, mounting structures and tracker systems will outpace the rest of the market.
IMS Research’s report “The World Market for PV Balance of System Equipment” revealed that market revenues would fall by 5% this year from 2011’s peak of $17 billion. Ash Sharma, Senior Research Director commented, “Flat installations and shipments will inevitably lead to a fall in BoS equipment revenues this year due to price erosion, most notably for inverters and mounting structures. However the longer-term prospects for the market are still very positive with a $24 billion market size forecast in 2016.”
The report also found that the fastest growing segment will be tracker systems, with revenues for these products predicted to grow by close to 30% per annum up until 2016. Falling prices for these products is expected to boost penetration, particularly in high irradiation regions, such as California, South Africa and the Middle East which are all predicted to see high growth in PV deployment over the next few years.
“Although the tracker market fell off a cliff at the end of 2008 when the Spanish market collapsed, it’s now facing a major resurgence as falling prices and efficient motor control allows for a much more cost-effective system”, added Sharma.
According to the report, depending of the type of installation and the equipment used, BoS costs can sometimes outweigh the PV module costs. This means that customers are increasingly focusing on
UK market surprises in global round up
THE European Photovoltaic Industry Association’s (EPIA) new Market Report 2011 shows important increase in grid- connected capacity of PV systems, but changing economics will require development of new markets in the world. The report states that the world-wide solar photovoltaic (PV) market continued to grow in 2011 even in the midst of financial and economic crisis, with new grid- connected PV capacities rising by 27.7 GW and propelling the global PV capacity from 39.7 GW at the end of 2010 to 67.4 GW at the end of 2011. Almost 21 GW of this growth occurred in Europe.
The number of markets reaching more than 1 GW of additional capacity during 2011 rose from 3 to 6. In 2010 the top 3 markets were Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic; in 2011 Italy leads the ranks and Germany, China, the USA, France and Japan follow, each with over 1 GW of new capacity. Those are among the key findings of EPIA’s new “Market Report 2011”, which assesses PV’s development around the world. Europe still accounts for the predominant share of the global PV market with 75% of all new capacity in 2011. The two biggest markets in 2011, Italy and Germany, account for
nearly 60% of global market growth during the past year.
“The PV industry is at a crossroads,” said EPIA President Ingmar Wilhelm. “Whilst European markets have always outpaced home production, this will presumably no longer be the case in the years to come. New markets around the world will have to be opened up to drive PV development in the coming decade just as Europe accounted for it during the last decade. Many markets – in particular China, the USA and Japan, but also Australia and India – have addressed only a very small part of their enormous potential. Other developing regions are only on the brink of starting their development.”
The UK also delivered a surprising development during 2011, reaching unprecedented growth of some 700 MW. In April 2010 a new FiT scheme was introduced and immediately followed by enthusiastic market development. The reaction was so positive that after only a few months several stakeholders sought to curtail this rapid growth. This was confirmed in January 2011 with the introduction of a “fast track review” which led to a strong reduction of all FiT for PV systems over 50 kW. This led to a rush of projects seeking grid connection before the deadline.
Total global installed PV capacity reached 67.4 GW at the end of 2011. PV is the third largest renewable energy source. The growth rate of PV during 2011 reached 70%. The total energy output of the world’s PV over a calendar year is equal to 80 billion kWh; enough to for over 20 million households. In Europe, over 50 GW was installed at the end of 2011. With growth in Southern European countries, the average load factor of this capacity is increasing and will produce over 60 billion kWh on an annual basis, enough energy to supply over 15 million European households.
the BoS components to find cost savings and suppliers are experiencing price pressure that was previously reserved for module suppliers. Despite this, PV modules are still predicted to remain the largest single hardware cost in a PV system and will account for more than 50% of total PV hardware revenues in 2016. Intensifying competition particularly for PV combiner boxes and mounting systems, especially from Chinese suppliers means that prices are forecast to continue to decline. However, price declines of BoS components will not be as severe as those experienced by module suppliers.
“Although there will remain great pressure on suppliers to reduce prices as incentives fall, new products such as enhanced monitoring hardware, smarter inverters and a shift towards ground- mount mounting structures will help maintain average prices.” added Sharma.
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www.solar-pv-uk.com Issue I 2012
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