North and South America Solar Photovoltaic Market Outlook to 2030 - Installed Capacity, Market Size, Risk Analysis, Market Saturation and Company Profiles

Monday 3 March 2014, Amsterdam

Global Solar Photovoltaic Installed Capacity will Witness Stable Growth until 2020

Solar-module installations witnessed immense growth between 2006 and 2013, with a Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) cumulative-capacity growth rate of more than 50% each year from 2008 to 2013. Annual installations increased from 1.4 GW (Gigawatts) in 2006 to an estimated 32.4 GW in 2013, with increasing economies of scale, emerging technologies, and policy-based governmental and institutional support for the industry all aiding growth.  

Annual installation in 2012 was marginally lower compared with the preceding year because the industry started to move away from the initial spur and also due to the reduction or elimination of support from governments in some key industry nations.

In 2013, an increase in global annual installation was driven by China and Japan. Annual installation was 32.4 GW, which is around 114% of the annual installations in 2012. For the 2013–2025 period, annual installations are set to stabilize within the range of 32.4–39.2 GW.

Strong Local Policies Drive Development in the US and Canada

The US and Canada are global leaders in terms of renewable-power generation. The growth momentum of their renewable industry has primarily been facilitated by support mechanisms provided by the federal and state governments. Although both countries have federal regulations in place supporting renewable industry, states with strong policy frameworks have been the major contributors to renewable installed capacity in both countries. The development patterns for the renewable industries have been largely dependent on the extent of the support mechanisms provided by the state governments. In the US, the growth of the renewable-energy industry has been led by the state-level Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), combined with other tax incentives and subsidies. California and Texas, which have been providing policy support to the renewable-energy industry for more than a decade, are the leaders in terms of renewable capacity. The Canadian government is supporting renewable energy with the ecoENERGY program. Ontario, with its comprehensive Feed-in Tariff (FiT) program, is the leading province in terms of renewable-power capacity.

Brazil’s Solar Auctions and Mexico's National Energy Strategy Provide a Breakthrough for Solar Photovoltaic Growth in the Latin American Region

The Brazilian government conducts auctions to encourage the development of renewable projects. The auction approach is a significant tool in Brazil in terms of increasing the use of renewable power sources. The technology-specific approach permits organizations to contract for auctions. Brazil’s energy ministry, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, approved 122 Megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic capacity in the first solar-only auction held in the country in 2013, and solar projects will receive $98 per Megawatt hour (MWh) for power generation.

In 2012, the Mexican government introduced the National Energy Strategy, which established a roadmap for energy policies to be implemented over the coming 15 years and sets a specific goal for the generation of electricity from non-fossil sources of 35% in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the period. The target under this strategy also limits the share to be accounted for by generation from fossil fuel technologies to 60% in 2035 and 50% in 2050. This is strongly expected to encourage the usage of renewable sources for power generation.