San Francisco, CA--Worldwide solar photovoltaic (PV) installations reached a record high of 6.43 gigawatt (GW) in 2009--a 6% growth over the year before, according to the a 2010 report from Solarbuzz, a solar-energy market-research and consulting company. In addition, the company reported that the PV industry generated $38 billion in global revenues in 2009, while raising more than $13.5 billion in equity and debt, up 8% on the prior year.
According to the company's Marketbuzz 2010 report, European countries accounted for 4.75 GW, or 74% of world demand in 2009. The top three countries in Europe were Germany, Italy and Czech Republic, which collectively accounted for 4.07 GW. All three countries experienced soaring demand, with Italy becoming the second-largest market in the world. In contrast, Spanish demand in 2009 collapsed to just 4% of its prior year level. The third-largest market in the world was the U.S., which grew 36% to 485 MW. Following closely behind was a rejuvenated Japan, ranked fourth and growing 109% over the year before.
Worldwide solar-cell production reached a consolidated figure of 9.34 GW in 2009, up from 6.85 GW a year earlier, with thin film production accounting for 18% of that total. China and Taiwan production continued to build share and now accounts for 49% of global cell production. Of total European demand, net cell imports accounted for 74% of the total.
The top seven polysilicon manufacturers had 114,500 tons per annum of capacity in 2009, up 92% over the year before, while the top eight wafer manufacturers accounted for 32.9% of global wafer capacity in 2009.
Solar-cell production exceeding the market demand caused the weighted crystalline-silicon module price average for 2009 to crash 38% from the prior year's level. This reduction in crystalline-silicon prices also had the effect of eroding their percentage premium to thin-film factory gate pricing.
Looking forward, the industry will return to high growth in 2010 and over the next five years. Even in the slowest growth scenario, the global market will be 2.5 times its current size by 2014. Using the fastest growth forecast, annual industry revenues would approach $100 billion by 2014.
