Greentech Lead America: According to a report from Transparency Market, global solar PV installation was 29.6 GW in 2011 and is expected to reach 60.05 GW in 2018, growing at a CAGR of 10.7 percent from 2012 to 2018.
In terms of revenue, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.6 percent from 2012 to 2018, according to the report.
In terms of volume, EMEA dominated the global market accounting for over 75.7 percent of the overall annually installed capacity in 2011.Europe is followed by Asia Pacific in terms of solar PV installations due to high demand in emerging economies, especially China and India.
Annual installations of solar PV are expected to increase in Asia Pacific due to increasing solar PV application scope, particularly in utility-scale, commercial and residential sectors.
The current paradigm shift in the solar PV market is expected to change the scenario by 2018 with the Asia Pacific solar PV market volume expected to grow at a CAGR 16.99 percent from 2012 to 2018 owing to strong government support and lower prices.
The residential end use sector is expected to be one of the rapidly growing markets and accounted for 30.22 percent of the overall demand in 2011. Increasing applications in utility-scale enabled this sector to dominate the solar PV market in 2011, accounting for 43.07 percent of market share. The residential sector is expected to attain 33.36 percent market share by 2018.
Grid-connected solar PV’s dominated the grid type market, accounting for 98.03 percent of the overall installed capacity in 2011.
Crystalline silicon solar PV has captured majority of the market and accounted for 80.81 percent of the overall installed capacity in 2011. Thin film PV market follows the c-Si PV market and is expected to grow with a CAGR of 18.0 percent from 2012 to 2018.
The wet climate across different geographic regions leading to deterioration of solar panels, limited life of batteries utilized in off-grid solar PV systems, slashed feed-in tariff rates, irregular solar intensities, and oversupply conditions are collectively expected to restrain the market growth of solar PV systems, the report said.