IEA-PVPS has now been compiling its International Survey Report (ISR) series
‘Trends in Photovoltaic Applications’ for a full decade. The ISR covering the period 1992-2001 is now
available.
Installed capacity
The ISR summarizes trends in installed PV power for the 20 PVPS reporting countries across four application areas (off-grid domestic, off-grid non-domestic, grid-connected distributed and grid-connected centralized).
Market expansion between 2000 and 2001 maintained the high rate of
growth witnessed in recent years, rising 35 % to 982 MW installed by the end of 2001. Japan and Germany alone account for 79 % of the increase – virtually identical
to the previous year.
This further increases Japan’s lead in installed
power per capita to 3,6 W, and also increases the proportion of PV capacity connected to the grid, now 68 %, up from
62 % in 2000.
Module production and prices
Module production rose more than six-fold
between 1993 and 2001, with around half
of cell and module production now located
in Japan. Production capacity utilization remains
low at about 60 %, reflecting problems
due to immature supply chains in a
rapidly expanding industry, but most manufacturers
report plans for expansion.
Following reports of slight price increases in
2000 when certain subsidy and support
schemes resulted in high demand for components,
system prices have regained their previous
downward trend. Grid-connected BIPV
systems of 1-3 kW typically cost between 6
and 12 USD per watt installed, but prices
below 5 USD have been reported in Denmark,
Germany, the Netherlands and USA.
Perceptions and support mechanisms
PV demonstration projects are included in
educational facilities in at least half of the
reporting countries. The public perception
of PV and recognition of its role in meeting
sustainability objectives have noticeably increased
over the past year. The Kyoto protocol
has been one of the key indirect policy
issues, stimulating reappraisal of renewable
energy policy. At the current time ‘carbon
taxes’ introduced in a number of countries
are too small to noticeably affect the economics
of PV, while market-led renewable
energy schemes promote the cheapest option
so do not necessarily lead to more PV
installations.
Click here for order information or to download this report (IEA-PVPS T1-11: 2002) . If you would like more in-depth country-specific analysis,
please visit the countries' section to download the individual national
survey reports from which the ISR is compiled.
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