Asia Pacific photovoltaic installations grow by 165%

Asia Pacific's photovoltaic market grew by 165% year over year, with an additional 40% expected to be added in 2012.

Based on NPD Solarbuzz Asia Pacific Major PV Markets Quarterly report, China emerged from 2011 as the dominant force in the Asia Pacific region, growing by 500% over 2010 levels, with 48% of demand in 2011.

A planned year-end 13% feed-in tariff reduction led to a surge in fourth quarterof 2011 installations, pushing the figure up to a total of 1.7 gigawatts.

 “The China PV market was reshaped in 2011 by the release of the national FIT,” said Ray Lian, an analyst at NPD Solarbuzz. “Approximately 1 GW ground mount projects were installed in the Qinghai province alone. However, the explosive growth could well be followed by policy adjustments in 2012 as the Chinese central government takes action to control the growth rate.”

Japan was the second-largest regional market in the region, with fourth quarter installations up slightly from 2011 third-quarter figures. Year over year, the Japanese market was up 30% in 2011, reaching a total of 1.2 gigawatts, with an additional 40% expected during 2012.

Quarter four saw Indian installations surge by 125% as the project developers strove to meet the installation deadlines. There are still delays on many of the projects, but estimates suggest that quarter one of 2012 could see more than 600 megawatts connected to the grid under the National Solar Mission and Gujarat Solar Policies.

“While rapid PV price declines have greatly improved project economics over the course of 2011, many Indian developers have suffered setbacks due to difficulties associated with financial closure, land acquisition, and power evacuation facilities. Now developers will need to race to meet their installation deadlines or face the prospect of losing their PPAs, leading to a surge of activity in December and January,” added NPD Solarbuzz analyst Chris Sunsong.

But Australia is trending down with PV installations falling by 10% quarter over quarter. Even worse is that installations in the first quarter of 2012 are expected to decline another 20% as a result of the termination and reduction of a variety of incentive policies during the first half of 2011. The 2012 fiscal year market is expected to fall by 30%.

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Tags: pv market, solart market, Asia-Pacific market, solar installations