PV Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) is a result of a monthly survey filled by more than 300 sun.store buyers, measuring overall demand outlook in the industry. It has been recording small but steady declines since February - April's results was 68 which represents 5 points decrease comparing to 73 in February.
This change underscores a slight shift in industrial demand as energy prices stabilize and market competition intensifies. Additionally, lower energy costs and inflation-induced financial constraints have somewhat dampened enthusiasm for residential solar adoption across Europe, with Spain notably affected. The typically strong German market also recorded fewer installations in March and April. That said, regions like Italy are demonstrating resilience.
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Overall, April’s PV PMI reading would be considered strong in any other industry, as half of the respondents plan to increase their purchases in May compared to April.
March witnessed a supply shortage of Commercial and Industrial (C&I) modules within the 450-500 Wp power class, a trend that did not carry over into April. As a result, average monofacial module prices have declined from 0.129 to 0.123 EUR/Wp. Similarly, bifacial models experienced an average price decrease from 0.141 to 0.135 EUR/Wp.
Confidence that the demand will remain strong
Full black modules was the only category to record a slight increase in average price from 0.131 to 0.132 EUR/Wp, reflecting a reduced availability of these models across Europe.
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“Due to the expected seasonal demand spike and shortages of certain module types in Q1, installers and distributors are more inclined towards stocking up. High PV PMI result instills confidence that the demand will remain strong throughout Europe heading into the summer”, commented Agata Krawiec-Rokita, CEO & Co-founder of sun.store. (hcn)
