The Asia-Pacific region will account for half of all new demand for solar photovoltaic energy in 2014, according to NPD Solarbuzz.
The consultancy predicts a year-on-year growth in the APAC region of approximately one-third from 2013’s 18GW, to at least 23GW in 2014.
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“APAC will dominate both manufacturing supply and end-market demand in 2014, with more than 80% of module production also coming from the region,” said Steven Han, analyst at NPD Solarbuzz.
“This milestone marks the final chapter in the transition from historic European domination to a new PV industry, where supply and demand from APAC will determine the basis of the 50GW global PV industry going into 2015,” he added.
Just five countries will be responsible for 95% of this demand, namely China, Japan, India, Australia and Thailand. China and Japan account for 85% by themselves but the report anticipates Thailand’s new 25% renewables target for 2021 will drive growth there.
The firm’s Asia Pacific PV Markets Quarterly report notes the efforts in China to install 8GW of its 12GW target for next year on rooftops. Despite the push for more distributed generation, NPD Solarbuzz predicts that more than half of next year’s demand will be ground-mounted.
