The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region continues to hold its position as a global leader in 2014 with 90.4% of the world’s solar module production, says research and consulting firm GlobalData.
According to Ankit Mathur, GlobalData’s project manager for alternative energy, China led both the demand and supply sides of the global solar photovoltaic (PV) market in 2013 with 65%, compared to the U.S. and Europe, which claimed respective market shares of 2% and 3%.
“Significant and ongoing growth in solar PV market demand is powering the increase in global module production, which we expect to rise from 40,806 MW in 2013 to 45,170 MW this year,” says Mathur. “China will account for a significant 30,000 MW of this production in 2014, while Japan and South Korea will follow with 3,700 MW and 2,400 MW, respectively.”
The switch in PV demand from Europe to APAC has resulted in the latter region occupying a large share of the global crystalline module production market last year.
“The announcement of anti-dumping duties on Chinese module manufacturers, which export solar modules to European markets, has diverted their focus away from exports to increasing sales activities in their own fast-growing domestic market,” says Mathur.
The rise in solar PV market demand has also reduced global production overcapacity from 151% in 2009 to 62% in 2013, according to GlobalData. With this demand expected to grow further in the future, many module manufacturers plan to boost their production capacity in 2014, which will see overcapacity increase again to an estimated 78%.