Photovoltaic market across the world grew to approx. 5.5 GW in 2008 as a result of higher demand and government investments in the sector.
The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) has revealed that the global solar photovoltaic (PV) market surged to nearly 5.5 GW in 2008 against 2.4 GW in 2007, with Spain ranking first and Germany at the second spot, as reported by CIOL.
In 2008, the global PV market installed capacity stood at 15 GW as compared to 9 GW in 2007. Spain represented nearly 50% of the new installations in 2008 by adding 2.5 GW new installation capacities. Germany followed Spain with 1.5 GW of newly connected systems last year. USA, with 342 MW additional installed capacities, continued the uptrend, followed by South Korea that recorded 274 MW PV installations during the year.
Further, Italy installed almost 260 MW new capacities whereas Portugal, France, the Czech Republic and Belgium also recorded increase in the PV installation capacities, strengthening Europe’s global leadership as far as solar PV installation is concerned.
The robust growth in the PV industry is primarily due to soaring demand, intensive research, continuous government investment and extensive business incentives for the investors.
Spain has recently transformed its support scheme. It has set-up a cap that will limit the global market development in 2009. Spain surpassed Germany to emerge as the leader in the PV installation capacity mainly due to the government incentives.
Further, by recording significant increase in the PV installation capacity, Germany’s PV industry is proving out to be a success tale. The country has witnessed a surge in investments across all the segments of the industry.
According to the organization, with global economic crisis still going on, the PV market forecast for 2009 remains uncertain. However, experts predict that the market could surge up to 7 GW, with the development of individual nations affecting the final figures.
According to a Research Analyst at RNCOS, “Implementation of appropriate support policies by several countries has led to the diversification of the global PV market. This is a good sign for the PV industry and environment. Besides Spain that occupied the first spot in 2008, the industry is hopeful that the markets in Germany, US, Italy and France will also raise the demand. Moreover, complimentary policies are likely to add on to the growth pace of PV installations in these nations.”
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