After its best year ever in 2008, the world solar market struggled to survive a tumultuous 2009. What looked like a yawning drop for the photovoltaic (PV) market in the first half of the year turned into a solid gain in total amount of systems installed on the strength of strong German sales in the fourth quarter. But despite annual worldwide PV installations rising from 5.8 GW in 2008 to 6.6 GW in 2009, the PV market value dropped by 15.8% to $17.0 billion due to crashing PV cell and module prices.
The U.S. fared better than most countries, with the PV market up an estimated 6.0% in 2009 to $3.5 billion and PV installations rising to 469 MW. An extension of the solar tax credit and new recovery act funding helped to keep the U.S. PV market on a continuing upward trend.
The U.S. represented only 1% of a world solar thermal collector market dominated by China in 2009, shipping 1.0 GW of collectors worth $79.6 million. While still currently focused on low temperature pool heating systems that represented 82% of the U.S. market (by megawatts of collectors shipped) in 2009, SBI Energy anticipates much stronger growth in residential hot water systems heading to 2014.
Worldwide, the U.S. still has the greatest potential to increase its position in the solar market. SBI Energy foresees 900 MW of PV installations in 2010, rising to 7,600 MW of PV installations in 2014 building on renewed interest in solar from utilities and the extension of the solar tax credit. While the ST market will show only moderate growth in the U.S., the PV market segment will continue to shine in the U.S. and the concentrated solar power (CSP) market is set to explode. SBI Energy estimates the U.S. solar panel market will reach $34.5 billion in 2014.
U.S. Solar Energy Market World Data, 2nd Edition by SBI Energy analyzes the manufacturing and sales of the U.S. solar photovoltaic and solar thermal markets within the context of other key solar countries such as the Germany, Spain, Japan and China. The analysis will include definitions, current product offerings and market detail on the following segments:
- Photovoltaic cells and modules
- Vacuum tube and flat-panel solar thermal modules
- Balance of system components including inverters, frames, batteries and charge controllers
About SBI Energy
SBI Energy, a division of MarketResearch.com, publishes research reports in the industrial, energy, building/construction, and automotive/transportation markets. To learn more, visit www.sbireports.com.
So wish I could be there in San Francisco to see my team
GO Rangers!