International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power System Programme (IEA PVPS) publishes its new “Snapshot of Global PV Markets 2014”
IEA PVPS published its new Snapshot report on Monday 30 March. Preliminary to its Trends Report that will be published in September 2015, this report provides estimated data about photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the countries reporting to the IEA PVPS Programme and additional key markets.
At least 177 GW of PV are now installed worldwide, while in 2014, 38.7 GW of PV were installed globally.
Preliminary market numbers show that the PV market grew again in the 2014. In total, about 38.7 GW of PV capacity were installed in the IEA PVPS countries and the major other markets during 2014 (2013: 37.6 GW). This raised the total installed capacity in IEA PVPS countries and key markets to at least 177 GW, with 155 GW in IEA-PVPS countries and another estimated 22 GW of capacity installed in other major countries. These are the main outcomes of the latest IEA PVPS “Snapshot of Global PV Market 2014” report, published on 30 March.
After several years of rapid growth and a stabilization in 2012, the PV market grew in 2013 to at least 37.6 GW. It grew slightly in 2014 to 38.7 GW. The Asia Pacific region represented in 2014 around 59% of the global PV market and the first region for the second year in a row. While Europe still represented 59% of this global market in 2012, its market share felt to 18%, a consequence of a reduced market in Europe and a growing global PV market. The PV market in the America’s continued to grow with the USA, Canada and Chile leading the pace. The Middle East remains a region in development for the PV market, despite PV plants announcements but Africa installed close to 1 GW thanks to the South African PV market.
But the most important feature was observed in China that revised its 2013 numbers downwards to 10.95 GW and saw its market decreasing slightly in 2014 to 10.6 GW, with concerns about the ability to develop distributed PV. The second largest market was Japan with 9.7 GW in 2014, ahead of the USA with 6.2 GW and finally three European markets: UK at 2.3 GW, Germany down at 1.9 GW and France with close to 1 GW.
In 19 countries the annual PV contribution to electricity demand has passed the 1% mark, with Italy at the top with at least 7.9 % followed by Greece at 7.6% and Germany at 7%. The overall European PV contribution amounting to around 3.5% of Europe’s electricity demand. Australia, Denmark, Israel and Japan have also passed the 2% mark but larger consumers of electricity such as China or the USA will require more PV capacity to reach this threshold.
Finally, PV has become a major source of electricity extremely rapidly 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 above 500 MW). From the built environment to large ground-mounted installations, PV finds its way, depending on various criteria that make it suitable for most environments.
Download the full report “2014 Snapshot of Global PV Markets”
Source
International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme 2015