Jun 9 2010
According to a new report published by GTM Research, photovoltaic (PV) cell production across the globe has grown from 7.1 GW in 2008 to 10.7 GW in 2009, an increase of 51%. In addition to this, photovoltaic panel production has also increased significantly to 8.9 GW, which is a total increase of 41%.
A large number of PV panels were installed in Germany during the Q3 and Q4 of 2009 in view of imminent subsidy cuts and reduced panel prices. This trend witnessed a record installation of 1.3 GW during the last quarter of 2009.
According to Shyam Mehta, Senior Analyst at GTM Research, the year 2009 has been a challenging period for photovoltaic suppliers, where the supply outpaced the demand and reduced prices resulted in huge losses and major layoffs across the value chain. However, on the positive side, the production segment witnessed a significant gain in view of Germany’s late entry. Mehta further informed that in January, manufacturing giants were producing less than 20% of PV cells, which were entirely sold out from October to December.
Taiwan and China have contributed 50% in global PV cell production, which is an unlikely scenario five years back. During that time, Japanese and European companies were the major players and had more than three-fourth share in the PV cell market.
Crystalline silicon solar cells are still popular in the photovoltaic technology market and have a panel and cell production share of 78% and 81%, respectively. Simultaneously, the market for thin film solar cells also increased from 15% to 22%. In fact, a thin-film manufacturer became the largest panel and cell producer, which was a first time record.
The report from GTM Research contains a list of top ten PV panel and cell producers across the globe. These include Kyocera (Japan), Sharp (Japan), JA Solar (China), Yingli Green Energy (China), Gintech (Taiwan), SunPower (U.S.) and Q-Cells (Germany) among others.