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According to the Annual PV Industry report from Solarbuzz LLC, worldwide solar photovoltaic (PV) market installations reached a new record of 2,826MW in 2007, representing a 62 percent increase compared to 2006.
Worldwide PV production reached 3,436 MW in 2007, up from 2,204 MW in 2006, which represents a 56 percent increase for 2007. Polysilicon production did not keep pace with production expansions in 2007, growing only 30 percent, even though 21 new companies entered the polysilicon market in 2007. According to Solarbuzz, polysilicon remained the most capacity-constrained element of the PV supply chain in 2007.
Chinese PV manufacturers raised their market share to 35 percent in 2007, up from 20 percent in 2006, according to Solarbuzz. However, it was Japanese PV manufacturers that saw market shares decline, coming in at only 26 percent of worldwide production in 2007.
On a regional basis, Germany's PV market reached 1,328MW in 2007, accounting for 47 percent of the world market, and the largest in the world. Spain climbed to second, a growth of over 480 percent reaching 640MW.
Japan, once the world leader, saw PV installations decline 23 percent in 2007 compared to 2006, reaching 230MW. USA saw its market increase 57 percent to 220MW in 2007.
Thin film production more than doubled in 2007, according to Solarbuzz, reaching 400 MW in 2007, compared to 181MW in 2006 and now accounts for 12 percent of total PV production.
