PV Market: Global

Photovoltaics is a fast-growing market: The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of cumulative PV installations was 32% between year 2010 to 2021. In 2021 producers from Asia count for 93% of total c-Si PV module production. China (mainland) holds the lead with a share of 70%. Europe contributed with a share of 3%; USA/CAN with 3%. Wafer size increased and by keeping the number of cells larger PV module sizes are realized allowing a power range beyond 600 W per module. In 2021, Europe’s contribution to the total cumulative PV installations amounted to almost 22%. In contrast, installations in China accounted for 37% (with 33% in year 2020). Si-wafer based PV technology accounted for more than 95% of the total production in 2021. The share of mono-crystalline technology is about 84% of total c-Si production. Market shifts from subsidy driven to competitive pricing model (Power Purchase Agreements PPA).

PV Market: Focus Germany In year 2021, Germany accounted for about 6.9% (59 GWp) of the cumulative PV capacity installed worldwide (848 GWp) with about 2.2 million PV systems installed in Germany. In 2021 the newly installed capacity in Germany was 5.3 GWp according to BNA; in 2020 it was 4.6 GWp. PV covered 9.9% of Germany’s net electricity generation in 2021 while all Renewable sources delivered about 45.9%. In 2021 about 34.4 Mio. t CO2 equivalent GHG emissions have been avoided due to 48.6 TWh electrical energy generated by PV in Germany. PV system performance has strongly improved. Before year 2000 the typical Performance Ratio was about 70%, while today it is in the range of 80% to 90%.

The total cumulative installations amounted to about 850 GWp at the end of year 2021. All percentages are related to global installed PV capacity, including off-grid systems.

Total weighted average efficiency of crystalline Silicon(c-Si) wafer-based modules is 20.4% in Q4- 2021 (weighting factor is total shipments in year 2020). Lowest module efficiency in this group is 16.3% and highest value is 22.4%. Top 10 manufacturers represent about 78% of total shipment volume and origin mainly in Asia. Predominant c-Si technology is mono-PERC with half-cut cells and Multi-Busbar.

Current Efficiencies and Power of Commercial PV Modules

Source:fraunhofer