SunPower Team Building Activity at Lazer Extreme. We are armed and ready to fight !
Looking back at 2012, it was a difficult and sluggish year for the Photovoltaic (PV) Industry. The market was decreasing and there was oversupply. Due to surplus, prices were rapidly dropping. Some of the solar companies around the globe declared bankruptsy/insolvency. The Eurozone economic crisis, feed-in-tariff (FIT) cuts in countries like Germany and Australia, subsidy decisions in larger markets like Italy, expiry of the cash grant program for renewable energy in the U.S. contributed to the decline in the PV solar markets.
Despite of the current PV market situation, Sunpower fought the challenges of times but has to make two major action last year. First was the fab consolidation and followed by the downsizing.
A Smile ...Looking forward for a bright spot in 2013
It is the new year, SunPower is still up and kicking ready to face new challenges in 2013. The toughest year had passed...There will always be a rainbow after the rain.
What do we expect in the photovoltaic industry in the year 2013, Here is the prediction from the
IHS Solar Research Team :
1. The global PV market will achieve double-digit installation
growth in 2013, but market revenue will fall to $75 billion. Industry
revenues—measured as system prices multiplied by total gigawatts
installed—peaked at $94 billion in 2011, but fell sharply to $77 billion
in 2012, as presented in the figure below. Revenue is projected to
decline once again in 2013 to $75 billion, on the back of lower volume
growth and continued system price declines, given that PV component
prices continue to fall.
2. The solar module industry will
consolidate further in 2013. As 2012 comes to a close, fewer than 150
companies will remain in the photovoltaic upstream value chain, down
from more than 750 companies in 2010. Most of the consolidation will
involve companies going out of business entirely. Many integrated
players, particularly those based in China, will fold up shop in 2013.
The large expense of building and then operating integrated facilities
that are underutilized will be more than many can handle financially.
3.
PV module prices will stabilize in 2H 2013 as oversupply eases. Despite
a drastic decline in prices along the silicon supply chain since March
2011, solar prices will stabilize by mid-2013. Changes in market
dynamics will help restore the global supply-demand balance.
4.
Solar trade wars will rage on in 2013, yielding few winners. As of
November 2012, there were six different solar trade cases proceeding
involving China, Europe, the United States and India. This cycle of
sanction and retaliation will not help solve the fundamental challenge
of overcapacity plaguing the global PV industry.
5. South
Africa and Romania will emerge as PV markets to watch in 2013. The two
countries next year will expand from virtually no solar installations to
capacity of several hundred megawatts. The PV uptake in both markets is
driven by distinct factors. In South Africa, PV additions will mainly
stem from the tenders awarded in 2012; in Romania, the growth driver
will be a green certificate (GC) scheme that will stay in place until
2014.
6. Double-digit returns remain possible for European PV
projects in 2013. With the subsidy schemes that are currently in place,
all EU countries continue to offer attractive conditions for both
private and institutional investors. Meanwhile, an evaluation of
no-incentive scenarios shows that the most mature market segments are on
the cusp of grid parity, allowing healthy returns on investment.
7.
Solar will surpass wind in the United States. The year 2013 marks an
important milestone, representing the first time that new U.S. solar PV
capacity additions will be greater than those made by wind. This is
partly a result of the near-term uncertainty over the federal production
tax credit for wind. However, it is also a reflection of solar PV’s
increasing competitiveness as a form of renewable power generation in
some key U.S. markets.
8. China will become the world’s
largest PV market. Total PV installations in China next year are
predicted to surpass 6 gigawatts, allowing the country to surpass
Germany as the No. 1 solar market on the planet.
9. Energy
storage will transform the solar industry. Batteries increasingly are
being seen as an attractive way of retaining PV electricity, letting
people use the power later in the day to avoid paying high prices for
electricity from the grid. Next year IHS forecasts a big jump in the
number of residential PV systems installed with batteries attached.
10.
New technology will revive equipment vendors’ prospects. Improved
technologies will help PV manufacturers cut costs, increase margins and
ultimately distinguish themselves from the competition. Such a focus
creates an opportunity for both manufacturers and equipment suppliers to
obtain larger revenue streams.
