Last year solar PV comprised roughly 92 GW of newly installed distributed power capacity (48%). (Credit: Flickr @ Tim Fuller https://www.flickr.com/photos/timtimes/)A new study by GlobalData found that solar Photovoltaics (PVs) are already leading the world in the distributed power market consisting of 48 percent of the total distributed power capacity installed last year. In addition, the amount of annually installed distributed generation is slate to increase from 190 gigawatts in 2013 to roughly 389 gigawatts in 2019.
Last year PV comprised roughly 92 gigawatts of newly installed distributed power capacity, or 48 percent of the total installed. Meanwhile combined heat and power made up 38 percent of new distributed generation and wind 13 percent of new generation.
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Overall Europe has the majority of the world’s distributed PV capacity, according to GlobalData. “Due to a number of EU member states that pioneered in offering subsidies and incentives to boost solar PV installations, Europe now holds an impressive 66 percent share of the world’s distributed solar PV capacity,” said Ankit Mathur, GlobalData’s Alternative Energy project manager.
However that’s anticipated to change. “Most of the European PV markets have retracted their support by reducing such incentives. It is therefore expected that Europe will be supplanted by Asia-Pacific (APAC) as the market leader by 2019.” Mathur said. The company anticipated that by the end of 2019 the Asia region will lead the world with 89 gigawatts of PV installed annually by the end of 2019 and will be driven by China and Japan.
“Boosting distributed PV installed capacity [in Japan and China] will help them to reduce the burden on the grid and avoid transmission losses,” Mathur said. “It will also allow for rural electrification, which is a significant priority for most governments across the globe.”
The findings are in accord with many other recent reports finding that Asia will lead the world in new solar installations in coming years. A report from Navigant Research last year projected that there would be 220 gigawatts of new distributed PV generation throughout the world by 2018. That report predicted that Asia would be one of the largest markets during the time period. Meanwhile a NPD Solarbuzz report in June predicted that 50 percent of the world’s demand for new PV would stem from Asia and Australia. That report projected that more than 200 gigawatts of PV will be installed across the world by the end of 2014.
This article was originally posted on SolarReviews by Chris Meehan.
