Demand for PV cells and modules remained strong in the third quarter, according to a new report from IMS Research. A new leader appeared in solar cell production in the form of JA Solar, which increased its cell production by an impressive 35% in the quarter to top the rankings for the very first time. Suntech topped the rankings in module shipments, helping to push First Solar down to third position, while Q-Cells regained market position, coming in as the fourth largest cell producer.
PV module shipments increased by 20% compared with the previous quarter, reaching 5.4GW. This led to the ten largest suppliers all increasing their shipments in the quarter. All of the companies which improved their rankings since the third quarter of 2009 have been Chinese, according to the market research firm, with five out of the top seven suppliers in the third quarter of 2010, being Chinese crystalline suppliers.
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“Once again, records were broken throughout the PV industry in the third quarter,” noted IMS Research PV analysts, Sam Wilkinson. “Whilst all of the ten largest PV module suppliers recorded record module shipments in Q3’10, Chinese suppliers continued to dominate the industry and both the largest module supplier and largest cell producer were Chinese in the quarter. In fact, Chinese suppliers shipped over half of all modules in the third quarter,” continued Wilkinson.
IMS Research reiterated that it forecasts that PV module shipments would reach 18.9GW in 2010, nearly twice the amount shipped in 2009.
