Here is a short follow-up on the recent and upcoming trends that define the present and future crystalline silicon PV market.
The crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells continue their foray into global energy markets as the most convenient component for solar power generation units. The heightened awareness about the renewable options for energy source, in conjunction with the public and private awareness initiatives, has introduced ground-level changes across geographical regions. This has brought solar power generation in the commercial forefront over the previous decade among other renewable energy resources.
With the increase in total number of solar powered utilities and units across the face of the earth, governments and industry leaders have exhibited investment interests in taking the industry further. In addition, the lucrative incentives and financing options from trusted sources motivate participation from those who have stayed aloof for long fearing the high costs of installation. The crystalline silicon PV market is estimated to witness an incredible growth of 11.3 percent during 2016–2022 and reach net worth of $163 billion by 2022.
The hyped progress of the global market has experienced a paradigm shift in terms of technology and consumer trends in recent past. Let us take a closer look at these current and future trends based on market study.
Adjustments per availability
Silicon for PV cell construction is the solar industry’s most favored child since ages. Crystalline silicon, or c-Si, accounts for more than 90 percent of the global photovoltaic market. It gains a preferential adoption across the industry when compared to alternative amorphous silicon or non-silicon PV cells. Despite the presence of alternative components, it is expected to sustain its market dominance owing to its age-old presence in mainstream PV market.
One could associate this preference with the higher conversion efficiency offered by the module. In addition, it remains to be one among the first-known materials workable for solar energy conversion. However, the industry has lately been undergoing an acute shortage of pure silicon to its vain. Substandard and off-spec Silicon plagues the distribution channels within the industry. The manufacturers have been agile enough to adjust to this shortage with certain changes made in their consumption behavior. Most of these have reflected in their product development and manufacturing techniques.
Monocrystalline PV panels
The presence of crystalline silicon in the photovoltaic market can be classified for analysis based on two types – monocrystalline PV cells and multicrystalline PV cells. As per market estimates, monocrystalline PV solar panel is expected to register remarkable growth over the next few years.
As the name suggests, the monocrystalline photovoltaic solar panels are fabricated from a single silicon crystal. These are known to have the maximum efficiency of 24 percent in terms of energy conversion, which is a couple of units higher than that of polycrystalline alternatives. A multi-layered approach can be adopted to build required capacity, while maintaining compliance with space and weight constraints in certain applications. According to the technical experts, these would find its suitable employment in distributed small scale installation. The cost of production for each mono-Si cell is comparatively greater than that of the poly-Si cells. Yet the former is expected to capture the attention of global manufacturers and investors due to the enhanced power output capacity.
The major focus industry players should be on formulating effective manufacturing or operational strategies to cut down on the costs of the monocrystalline PV solar panels to expand their consumer base. The lower and middle class population should be at the crosshairs of the decision makers.
Drift towards alternative preferences
The earliest versions of solar modules were essentially traditional and wafer-based PV cells made from crystalline silicon. Both monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon semiconducting components were employed to construct these cells. The high costs of raw material and manufacturing led researchers to come forward with a second generation of solar cells. This next-gen panels were fabricated through the thin-film technology and gained unprecedented commercial importance within a couple of years. They employed cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium diselenide(CIGS), and amorphous thin-film silicon (a-Si). This was the first setback for the leading manufacturers in the crystalline silicon PV market.
Over the course of further research and development activities, there were a few polymer and composites that exhibited strong potential to be used for photovoltaic energy conversion. Therefore, came the third generation of solar cells, or emerging technologies. Instead of the traditional crystalline silicon PV cells, it uses organic and organometallic compounds to build PV cells that offer low-cost yet effective solar power conversion solutions. The industry stakeholders need to keep a watch on slightest development in this arena with regard to the high rate of research programs dedicated to these technologies. The sunny side for crystalline silicon PV market is that these emerging technologies have not seen the commercial daylight so far.
Rise and fall of regional dominance
Regional demographics and consumer trends have significant influence on the technological reforms brought in by the market players. As per global trends, Asian manufacturers have been successfully established their product chains across international avenues. At present, China and Taiwan collectively account for the maximum production of PV modules, whereas the European countries led the way when it came to the total cumulative PV solar panel installations. Although Europe accounts for more than one-third of the PV installations across the globe, its share in global figures continue to drop each year. This is due to the rise of awareness among the developing regions and consequent increase in demand from them.
The regional vendors have shown varied interests in different technological drifts. Their choice or inclination is mostly based on the purchase capacity of their target consumers as well as the availability of technologies. In other instances, they sense the gap in consumer requirement and the market offerings to tap the opportunity segment. For example, manufacturers in Taiwan intend to shift their focus in the favor of monocrystalline Silicon PV solar panels by addition of cell capacity.
The crystalline Silicon PV market is growth bound over the present decade. A close observation to these changing trends, when met with additional agility and pro-activeness, would be the success key for the industry stakeholders.
Omkar Gaikwad, senior content writer at Allied Market Research