The entire solar PV upstream value-chain, including equipment and materials suppliers, is set for drastic changes during 2017, ushered in by a perfect storm of events that has impacted on the industry within a space of 2-3 months, according to the latest release of the PV Manufacturing & Technology Quarterly report from the research team of PV-Tech’s parent owner Solar Media, Ltd.
Following the completion of an intensive two-month research phase internally at PV-Tech and Solar Media, we have now identified the key topics that will form the basis of the PV CellTech 2017 event in Penang, Malaysia on 14-15 March 2017.
During the period 2006 to 2011, equipment spending for solar manufacturing was a really big deal for capital equipment suppliers. Companies such as GT Advanced Technologies (then GT Solar) and Applied Materials (serving thin-film and c-Si expansions alike) were clocking up billion-dollar plus backlogs.
As we conduct our extensive market research phase to define exactly what the industry needs to be discussing and presenting at PV CellTech 2017 in Penang, Malaysia on 14-15 March 2017, one of the top technologies that is certain to be included again is passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) cells.
Capital expenditure (capex) from solar PV manufacturers is set to decline during the first half of 2017, as the industry adjusts to the excess of new capacity having come online during 2015 and 2016, according to the latest findings in the PV Manufacturing & Technology Quarterly report, released July 2016.
Solar PV manufacturing in 2016 has seen the highest capex (capital expenditure) levels for years, and a return to capacity expansion plans. Furthermore, many of the companies announcing the capacity expansions are doing so for the first time, especially at the cell and module stage.
New research undertaken by the in-house research team at Solar Media Ltd. reveals that 2017 is expected to be the year that Longi Silicon Materials (incorporating its subsidiary LERRI Photovoltaic Technology) finally moves into the upper echelon of solar PV manufacturers.
The wait is over, and the counting has been finished by our research team. The size of the UK solar market in the first quarter of 2016 can now be revealed and analysed in detail.
In the second and final installment of his blog from SNEC in China, Finlay Colville continues to extrapolate a snapshot of the global PV industry from what he saw there and how it all fits into wider trends and realities of the market today.
Solar Intelligence analyst Finlay Colville reports back from SNEC in Shanghai, which finished yesterday. In the first installment of a two-part blog, he draws on his extensive knowledge and analysis of the global PV market to put his findings into the context of wider trends.
