IHS Markit has identified five trends shaping the solar industry. The scalability of solar is driving down manufacturing costs further the coming years. From 2021 over 500 million solar panels will be manufactured every year, allowing continued cost reduction via economies of scale.
Solar increasingly competitive
As costs continue to fall the scale of solar deployment will accelerate with installations occurring all point of the grid, the analysts expect. Solar is increasingly competitive with conventional sources of power generation. In 2016 and 2017, more solar was installed globally than any other type of power generation. Even in Germany, where weather conditions are not perfect, large-scale solar competes with thermal power generators. Furthermore solar will play a key role in the decentralization and digitalization of the power system. Distributed generation, such as solar, now plays a very significant part in the overall power mix. Recent years have given rise to the electricity “prosumers”, customers who now generate and consume their own electricity using solar panels.
Additional investments of $600 billion until 2022
Investments in solar will continue to increase, with growth driven by Asia. Total solar installations will increase by 154% from 2017 to 2022, spurring additional investments of $600 billion. Asia accounts for 92% of supply and 60% of demand.
Global corporations will play a growing role in the solar industry. Attracted by the growing opportunity of solar power and attractive returns, as well as pressure to increase the sustainability of their businesses, major global corporations are investing into the solar industry, Edurne Zoco and Sam Wilkinson of IHS Markit say. (HCN)
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More useful information:
https://www.pveurope.eu/News/Markets-Money/IHS-Markit-forecasts-solar-record-growth-in-2018
https://www.pveurope.eu/News/Markets-Money/90-GW-residential-solar-by-2021
https://www.pveurope.eu/solar-modules/global-market-outlook-one-terawatt-installed-pv-2021
