market forecast

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is set to boost investment into US renewable energy deployment and manufacturing from US$64 billion in 2022 to US$114 billion by 2031, according to research from Wood Mackenzie, though a mismatch between solar deployment demand and domestic manufacturing capacity may see the sector’s domestic profile lag behind.

The EU installed 47% more solar in 2022 than last year and is on track to double its capacity by 2026 to an expected 484GW, according to a report by industry association SolarPower Europe.

Corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) have hit record levels in the Asia Pacific region as fuel prices rise and the cost of renewables falls, according to Wood Mackenzie principal analyst, Kyeongho Lee.

It will be 10 times more expensive to operate gas-fired power plants in Europe than to build new Solar PV capacity in the coming years, according to research by Rystad Energy.

Japan is forecast to have 111GW of installed solar by 2025 under a business as usual scenario, with this rising to 154GW by 2030. If it were to aim higher, however, under an ‘accelerated scenario’, it could hit 115GW of installed PV by 2025 and top 180GW by 2030, according to a new analysis by RTS Corporation.

Solar’s dominance in recent renewables auctions in Poland has further reinforced the promising outlook for the market, with developers and analysts welcoming support provided for the construction of smaller projects.

Vietnam remains one of the most attractive destinations of solar finance in South East Asia despite fears of market saturation, but access to capital in the region remains a key hurdle.

Traditionally wind-leaning Nordic state could witness PV surge from 998MW in 2018 to 5GW in 2030 and 7.3GW by 2040 via mix of auction and free-market approach, government stats show.

Annual global PV installations in 2019 are expected to rise by 18%, reaching a generation capacity of 123GW on the year, according to the latest report released by IHS Markit.

US utility-scale solar installs dipped below 1GW in Q3 2018, according to the latest WoodMackenzie US Solar Market Insight Report.