Having dominated the headlines in the Top 10 PV-Tech news stories of 2009, First Solar remains a highly popular read. However, after sifting through Google Analytics to compile this year’s Top 10 most-read news stories, it appears only two of these are related to First Solar. Two different market research companies' reports also proved popular, as did most news pieces on feed-in tariffs.
Earlier in the year, market research firm iSuppli was bold enough to forecast that worldwide PV installations could top 13.6GW. Considering that that was almost double the figures seen in 2009, it was a noteworthy piece and was logged as the tenth most-read news story in 2010. Since then, iSuppli has revised its forecast and recently projected installations worldwide to reach approximately 15.8GW this year, growing to 19.3GW in 2011.
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At number nine in the rankings is coverage of another report by iSuppli, detailing PV component price trends for this year. It is always interesting to check back with such forecasts several months later to see if projections made have materialised.
The second market research firm to grace the Top 10 was Solarbuzz, at number eight. They reported midyear about the expected tenfold increase in the U.S. PV market by 2014. Since then, other reports have begun to highlight the phenomenal growth expected in North America, a region that has seen years of promise, but little in the way of action.
Very early this year, the hot news surrounded the proposed FiT changes by the new German government. Rumours circulated on an almost hourly basis, but as the official announcement was finally announced, our specialist FiT reporter, Emma Hughes, was quick to reveal all the details, leading to the seventh most popular story this year.
At number six is UniSolar, a company that has been around longer than nearly any other thin-film manufacturer and has been known to pump out a fair bit of news on a regular basis. However, our review of the company's latest technology roadmap after a period of tough times drew a lot of interest and commentary, some of which wasn’t very complimentary!
Although the key part of the fifth most-popular story focused on Sharp, the inclusion of First Solar in the comparison proved hugely popular. The PV market continues to undergo huge competition, and the ebbs and flows in manufacturer rankings – reported either by revenue, shipments or nameplate capacity – are highly fluid and are expected to stay that way in the years to come. Having held the number-one spot in PV manufacturing, Sharp saw their status taken away first by Q-Cells, and then First Solar. This story noted that Sharp was on the rebound.
At number four is the second of the stories related to feed-in tariffs. This time, the official announcement of the first FiT in the UK, again covered by our in-house FiT expert Emma Hughes.
This news in February proved more influential than any of us here at PV-Tech realised at the time. As a result of the FiT's announcement and the potential for growth in the UK market, we launched a new website that was dedicated to the UK's PV market, Solar Power Portal UK. This also led to two sold-out conferences on the subject, the first undertaken by PV-Tech.
With First Solar continuing as manufacturing cost leader in 2010, our review (live) of its quarterly financial conference calls proved an instant hit, coming in at number three. The story from those live reports came midyear when First Solar noted manufacturing costs had fallen to US$0.76 per watt.
A first for the PV-Tech site is our second most-viewed news story, which was based on an exclusive video interview with the head of Samsung's PV division during Intersolar Munich in June. Had we combined the story that linked to the video with the actual video's traffic, this scoop would have been by far the most popular story of 2010.
But the most popular story wasn’t about First Solar directly, but about another side of the thin-film market. The news that Applied Materials was reining in its position in the a-Si turnkey equipment business turned out to be the most popular story of 2010.
The book has yet been written on ‘what went wrong’ with Applied's SunFab technology and business model, but whenever this happens, it's sure to be an instant must-read item.
Below is the list of Top 10 stories:
1. Applied Materials stops selling ‘SunFab’ thin-film lines: focus on c-Si solar and LED technology
2. World Exclusive: Samsung Electronics reveals solar manufacturing strategy
3. Manufacturing cost per watt at First Solar falls to US$0.76 cents: module faults hit earnings
4. UK feed-in tariff is announced: payback begins April 1
5. Sharp overtakes First Solar as revenue tops US$2.2 billion in 2009
6. Uni-Solar plots technology roadmap: 12% efficiencies at 95 cents per watt
7. German feed-in tariff cut will be 15-17% – updated
8. Solarbuzz predicts U.S. solar market could grow tenfold by 2014
9. iSuppli: PV component price declines set to continue with polysilicon declining 56.3% in 2010
10. iSuppli bets big on global solar installations forecast for 2010 reaching 13.6GW
