Photovoltaics, one of fastest growing global industries

The report states that since 1990, photovoltaic module production has increased more than 500 fold from 46MW to 23.5GW in 2010, making it one of the fastest growing industries at present. In 2010, worldwide photovoltaic production more than doubled driven by major increases in Europe. For 2010 the annual market volume of newly installed solar photovoltaic electricity systems varies between 17 and 19GW, depending on estimates. This represents mostly the grid connected photovoltaic market, as there are no reliable estimates available for the non grid connected market. The report shows that, with a cumulative installed capacity of over 29GW, the European Union is leading in PV installations. By the end of 2010, European photovoltaic installations provided more than 70% of the total global solar photovoltaic electricity generation capacity. Despite current economic difficulties, the report says the number of market implementation programmes is still increasing worldwide. Examples of such measures to promote the use of PV technology include renewable portfolio standards, and feed in tariff tax incentives. Coupled with the overall rising energy prices and pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the study forecasts that this will continue to keep demand for solar systems high. In the long term, growth rates for photovoltaics are forecasted to remain high. The study concludes that in order to maintain the high growth rate of the photovoltaic industry, different pathways have to be pursued. There is a need to reduce the material consumption per silicon solar cell because the cost of silicon is one of the main price factors of such solar cells. In parallel, the manufacturing of thin film solar cells should be increased and the introduction of concentrated photovoltaics should be accelerated. Concentrated photovoltaics is a new technology that substitutes semiconductor material with cheaper concentrating lenses, typically of plastics.