IEA PVPS publishes its new “Snapshot of Global Photovoltaic Markets 2015”

Preliminary market numbers show that the PV market grew again in 2015. In total, about 49 GW of PV capacity were installed in the IEA PVPS countries and in other major markets during 2015. This number reaches a total of 50 GW when additional smaller markets are included. The total installed capacity in the IEA PVPS countries and key markets has risen to at least 227 GW. These are the main outcomes of the latest IEA PVPS “Snapshot of Global Photovoltaic Market 2015” report, published on 6 April 2016.

The story of the last 10 years explains what happened in the PV sector. The introduction of the feed-in tariffs in Germany allowed the industry to move from a niche market to an industrial-size market. Policies that are now negatively seen and that have led to the boom of PV in many countries, have allowed the market to develop and the prices to go down significantly, thanks to economies of scale in the industry and technology improvements. The market moved rapidly from 1,4 GW in 2005 to 16,6 GW in 2010 and 50 GW in 2015. OECD countries and in particular European ones, Japan and the USA contributed significantly to PV development in these 10 years. However, for a few years, developing countries have been contributing to PV development, mainly in Asia, as well as on other continents. The Asia-Pacific region represented around 59% of the global PV market in 2015 and is the first ranking region for the third year in a row. Europe’s market share fell again to 18%, despite a growth in absolute terms. The PV market in the Americas continued to grow with the USA, Canada and Chile leading the pace, ahead of several new markets. The Middle East had many project announcements and set up some installations, while the African market declined. Still, the most important element was witnessed again in China with its market progressing to 15,3 GW. The second largest market was Japan with 11 GW in 2015, ahead of the European Union and the USA with more than 7 GW each. India, with 2 GW appears to be the rising star in the PV sector.

In 22 countries, the annual PV contribution to electricity demand has passed the 1% mark, with Italy at the top of the list at around 8%, followed by Greece at 7,4% and Germany at 7,1%. The overall global PV contribution amounts to around 1,3% of the world’s electricity demand.

Finally, PV has become a major source of electricity at an extremely rapid pace in several countries all over the world. The speed of its development stems from its unique ability to cover most market segments; from the very small individual systems for rural electrification to utility-size power plants (today over 750 MWp). From the built environment to large ground-mounted installations, PV finds its way, depending on various criteria that makes it suitable for most environments.