iSuppli Corp, a leading market research company, has indicated that 2010 could be a good year for makers of solar cells, as well as photovoltaic (PV) installers, if they can manage the supply and demand swings. According to Henning Wicht, senior director and principal analyst for PV systems at iSuppli, “The year 2010 represents a boom time for the global solar industry, with PV installations doubling from 2009. However, seasonal factors, amplified by the timing of cuts in the German government’s feed-in-tariff (FIT) in mid-2010, are causing demand to oscillate from quarter to quarter, this year.” He also cited that the fluctuations in demand would result in even greater volatility in inventory levels in 2010 and before the next FIT cut announced by Germany—the world’s largest PV market, in the beginning of 2011.
iSuppli had projected that, worldwide, PV installations would rise to 14.2 GW this year, up from 7.2 GW in 2009.
