According to a new report by NPD Solarbuzz Thailand will join China, Japan, Australia and India as the major solar markets in the Asian-Pacific region next year.
The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region will dominate solar PV demand in 2014, accounting for approximately 50 per cent of all new demand next year, according to findings from the latest NPD Solarbuzz APAC PV Markets Quarterly report.
Nearly 95 per cent of new solar PV capacity in the APAC region in 2014 will come from just five countries: China, Japan, India, Australia, and Thailand.
The APAC countries are forecast to install more than 23GW of solar PV in 2014, setting a new record for solar PV installed annually within any region.
This record PV level represents more than the entire global PV industry installed in 2010.
It is even greater than the 19.2GW installed in Europe in 2011, when Germany and Italy were the leading global solar-PV countries, NPD Solarbuzz found.
“APAC will dominate both manufacturing supply and end-market demand in 2014, with more than 80 per cent of module production also coming from the region,” said NPD Solarbuzz analyst Steven Han.
“This milestone marks the final chapter in the transition from historic European domination to a new PV industry, where supply and demand from APAC will determine the basis of the 50GW global PV industry going into 2015.”
The record level of solar PV demand from the APAC region during 2014 will represent 35 per cent annual growth compared to 2013, when APAc is expected to install more than 18GW of new solar PV.
With more than 85 per cent of APAC installations this year, China and Japan dominated demand from the region.
The Chinese Bureau of Energy recently announced an aggressive target of 12GW for 2014, with 8.0GW to be installed on rooftops and 4.0GW of ground-mounted plants.
New investments also continue to drive the Japanese market following the country’s 230 per cent annual growth in 2013, which will boost the pipeline of solar PV projects in Japan above 20GW.
NPD Solarbuzz predicts that Thailand will become the next major solar PV country in the APAC region in 2014, having increased its target for renewable energy contributions to 25 per cent by 2021.
The country’s National Energy Policy committee has proposed 800MW of community-based solar PV capacity, with an additional 200MW to come from solar rooftops.
“Despite efforts in China to increase the solar PV capacity located on rooftops through distributed generation, more than 50 per cent of solar PV capacity installed across the APAC region during 2014 will come from ground-mounted projects, with less than a quarter of new PV capacity derived from residential and small commercial rooftop segments,” the report found.
