Tag Archives: Solar

Market Analysis

EU Still Top Market For Solar

China’s shipments of solar power-related products to the EU have been strong despite reduced subsidies. Although makers are exploring alternative destinations, the EU remains the key export market.

Despite subsidy cuts, China PV manufacturers will continue to focus on the EU market for the next few years. Some of the larger enterprises, however, will be expanding their reach to other destinations, including the US and Southeast Asia.

One of the reasons the EU will remain the primary market is that buyers there place large-volume orders. Michael Guo, manager at Yuhuan Sinosola Science & Technology Co. Ltd, said its EU customers typically requisition more than 1MW of solar panels. Orders from other markets such as Singapore are smaller in terms of volume. Suppliers are generally unwilling to accept such transactions because the average unit manufacturing costs are higher and likely to eat into their profit margins.

Zhejiang Hengji PV-Tech Energy Co. Ltd exports 80 percent of solar cells and modules output to the EU, including Italy, Spain and Germany. Manager Susan Xu said orders have not decreased since the subsidy cuts were announced, and have actually continued to go up. The company is even planning to boost capacity 50 percent this year.

Xu said that while the reduction may give some buyers reason for pause, the large customer base in the EU means China makers may not feel the impact at all. Apart from power generating plants, there is demand from residential communities that employ solar energy.

Guo said the subsidy cuts have not affected Yuhuan Sinosola’s business.

China’s highly export-oriented solar power industry has been accelerating in recent years. Only 10 percent of PV output is sold to the domestic market. Of those earmarked for overseas sales, 90 percent go to the EU.

But larger makers have now started to branch out into other regions. Yuhuan Sinosola, for instance, is taking to steps to be UL-listed so that it can export to the US and Canada.

One of the country’s major PV makers, Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd built a 100MW solar cell plant in Hainan last year. The factory was constructed in China’s southernmost province because it is the closest to Southeast Asia. Since output from the facility will be exported mainly to countries in that region, transportation costs will be minimized.

Zhejiang Hengji is looking at cultivating sales at Japan, South Korea, the US and Africa. The company is in the process of obtaining required certification, including having its products carry the CE mark and be UL-listed.

Market Analysis

Solar Market Keeps Shining in 2011

According to the market research firm iSuppli Corp., despite extreme shifts in pricing, demand and governmental subsidies, the global photovoltaic market in 2011 will experience robust growth, with installations rising by 42.3 percent for the year.

iSuppli forecasts that worldwide solar installations will reach 20.2 Gigawatts (GW) next year, up from 14.2GW at the end of 2010. Germany, the world’s leading Photovoltaic (PV) market, will continue to play a key role and account for half of the total installations, at 9.5GW.

While an impressive growth total for the year, the expansion will be down significantly from the 97.9 percent increase in 2009.

“The strong results projected for 2011 come despite softening demand anticipated during the first quarter of next year,” said Stefan de Haan, Senior Analyst (Photovoltaic Materials & Systems) at iSuppli. “As a result, prices will weaken at the end of the first quarter. However, the feebleness of the pricing will be responsible for demand momentum building up in the second quarter. From then on, a significant demand rally can be expected, leading to a price rebound in the second half.”

Speculation is also rife about the possibility of a PV installation cap being imposed in Germany for 2011.

However, iSuppli believes that the German government will not dare to cut down PV subsidies, especially in the wake of a recent decision to extend the operation of nuclear power plants. With the nuclear extension passing despite popular opposition, the government is not likely to risk further alienating public opinion by implementing limits on photovoltaic solar energy.

“A severe action such as an installation cap on solar technology conceivably could cause a mutiny among regional German politicians who count PV companies as electoral constituencies, in the process drawing loud protestations from the industry, where precious jobs are at stake,” de Haan said. “And unlike in France—where an ad hoc action imposing PV caps succeeded—the solar industry in Germany has real influence on governmental decisions.”

In the near term, the nuclear reprieve in Germany will have no effect on the PV markets, even if passage might have sent the wrong signal to PV global markets for the time being, iSuppli maintains. And with German polls suggesting overwhelming support—80 percent by one count—among voters in favor of renewable energy generation, the forecasts for a strong German PV market in 2011 continue to hold and remain unchanged.

General Investing

Solar Energy Investment

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Solar Energy as an investment vehicle is not a new phenomenon. In fact, solar power has been a sound investment options longer than possibly any other renewable energy alternative. Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, is now harnessed and converted to photovoltaic energy. Solar energy has always had mass appeal with the public and that appeal has manifested into widespread popularity of Solar Energy Investment.
Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered derived resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available renewable energy on earth. Only a fraction of the available solar energy today is converted as photovoltaic energy. As the realities of an unstable supply of oil set in, Governments, nations, and consumers are seeking more sustainable options. Financial markets quickly took notice of this andSolar energy investments soon emerged. The capacity as a growth option, in terms of both solar energy generated and as an Alternative Energy Investment, is nearly limitless.
Today, that there are three main uses of solar energy today. Passive heat is the heat that we receive from the sun, like when we hang dry our laundry outside. Plants use the solar light to make food. Solar thermal is when we use the sun’s heat to provide hot water for homes and swimming pools. Photovoltaic energy uses energy from the sun to power traditional electricity sources we consume on a daily basis. This process is the conversion of DC/AC to make the electricity functional.
The present-day Renewable Energy Invest is an energy industry focusing on new and appropriate renewable energy technologies.Solar energy investments are an extremely lucrative option for private investors, institutional investors, and venture capitalists to explore. Over the next few years, we will continue to see tremendous growth in the solar photovoltaic market, especially amongst the nations providing a generous FiT – Feed in Tariff (Government provided subsidies to help stimulate alternative energy development).