Global PV Market

The solar PV market has been booming over the past decade and is forecast to confirm this trend in the coming years.

By the end of 2008, the global cumulative installed capacity of solar photovoltaic systems around the world was approaching 15GW, up from 9.2 GW in 2007. This compares with a figure of 1.2 GW at the end of 2000. Installations of PV cells and modules around the world have been growing at an average annual rate of more than 35% since 1998.

As of the end of 2008, Europe was leading the market with more than 9GW, representing more than 65% of the Global cumulative PV installed capacity. Japan (2.1 GW) and the US (1.2 GW) were following behind, representing 15% and 8% respectively of the Global cumulative PV power installed.

Regional Distribution of Global New PV Installations in 2008 (MW)

Source: European Photovoltaic Industry Association

With the current high relative cost of energy for solar, the major driver of demand remains regulatory support. Although this varies from country to country, the most effective countries to bring solar capacity online have been those with feed-in tariffs, such as Germany and Spain in Europe and Japan and South Korea in Asia.

In 2008, with more than 5.6 GW, the global PV market has more than doubled in comparison to the 2.4 GW installed in 2007.

The following graph illustrates the historical development of cumulative installed global photovoltaic capacity and the global PV market's annual newly installed capacity, from 1995-2008:

Cumulative and Annual Installed Global PV Capacity: 1995-2008 (GW)

Source: European Photovoltaic Industry Association

The top 4 PV country markets, according to total installed PV capacity, are as follows:

Top 4 Global Countries by Cumulative Capacity - 2008 (GW)

Source: European Photovoltaic Industry Association

2008: an exceptional year for the PV market

The impressive progression in 2008 is mainly due to the development of the Spanish market, which almost quintupled in one year from 655 MW in 2007 to more than 3,100 MW in 2008, representing more than 45% of the global PV market. Besides the development in Spain, other countries continued their progression in 2008. Germany installed around 1.86 GW, the US 342 MW and 230 MW were connected in Japan. Major developments were seen in other countries like Italy (258 MW) and South Korea (274 MW) as well as the emergence of new PV markets such as France (105 MW were installed, 46 MW of which were connected in 2008), the Czech Republic (51 MW), Portugal (50 MW) and Belgium (48 MW).