intersolar 2017

••• 10••• Branchennews A global success story: 300 gigawatts of solar power capacity have been installed around the world. Photo: RainerSturm / pixelio.de An extraordinary milestone 300 gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity installed worldwide T he growth of photovoltaic technol- ogy around the world continues, and the global success story has now reached a further milestone: 300 gigawatts (GWp) of total installed solar power capacity around the world. This was announced by the German Solar Association in Ber- lin, on the basis of their own cal- culations. In 2016 there was a global de- ployment of solar power systems with an additional nominal capac- ity of around 70 gigawatts. That amounts to a jump of around 30 per cent in new deployment com- pared to 2015. The photovoltaic systems installed in 2016 alone generate around 90 terawatt hours of clean solar power. In mathematical terms, this new ca- pacity would supply 25 million ad- ditional households with an annu- al electricity consumption of 3,500 kilowatt hours. Picking upmomentum inmany countries “The utilization of solar power has really picked up momentum in many countries around the world. As the global thirst for energy increases, more and more governments and investors are commit- ting to clean forms of energy,” explains Carsten Körnig, Chief Executive Officer of the German Solar Association (BSW- Solar). China’s National Energy Agency (NEA), for example, stopped the con- struction of around 100 coal-fired pow- er plants with a nominal capacity of over 100 gigawatts, while at the same time installing photovoltaic systems with a nominal capacity of around 34 giga- watt peak (GWp) in 2016. This makes the “Middle Kingdom” the largest business market for PV, followed by the United States with around 13 gigawatts and Ja- pan with around 9 gigawatts. A strong photovoltaic market is also developing in India, where forecasts predict growth of 8 to 9 gigawatts for 2017. Extremely lowcost alternative “The decision for solar power has long been based on more than environmen- tal concerns alone. Economic considera- tions are increasingly the primary moti- vation for making the decision to invest in PV,” as Körnig emphasizes. “The risk of stranded investments in unprofitable coal-fired power plants is increasing, because in the future their enormous climate impact costs will inevitably be priced in to the overall economic equation. Meanwhile, solar pow- er already provides an extremely low-cost alternative.” In a current study, the World Economic Forum (WEF) determined that in over 30 countries around the world, pho- tovoltaic technology is already so inexpensive that it can be oper- ated profitably without financial support. An increasing number of countries are finding that it is more economical to invest in PV and wind power plants than in coal-fired power plants. In a study, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems arrived at the con- clusion back in 2015 that in many parts of the world solar energy will soon be the most inexpensive source of electricity. Exclusive partnership with Intersolar Europe For over 30 years now BSW-Solar, the interest group for the solar and storage industries in Germany and in numerous foreign markets, has been committed to the goal of achieving a sustainable energy supply with a significant share of PV. The association assists foreign governments around the world in bring- ing photovoltaics to the market, and fa- cilitates international relations between companies in the energy sector. This mission is also furthered by BSW’s exclu- sive partnership with Intersolar Europe, the world’s leading exhibition for the so- lar industry, which takes place this year from 31 May to 2 June in Munich. “More and more governments and in- vestors are committing to clean forms of energy,” says Carsten Körnig, Chief Executive Officer of the German Solar Association (BSW-Solar). Photo: www.solarwirtschaft.de VDMA: Verbesserte Auftragssituation Die gute Auftragssituation der Her- steller von Komponenten, Maschi- nen und Anlagen für die Photovol- taik in Deutschland sorgt für eine positive Stimmung der Branche zum Ende des ersten Quartals 2017. In der aktuellen Geschäfts- klimaumfrage des Verbands Deut- scher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau (VDMA) melden 85 Prozent der Un- ternehmen eine Verbesserung der Auftragslage im Vergleich zum Vor- jahreszeitraum. Für das laufende Jahr erwartet die Branche ein Umsatzwachstum von gut 9,5 Prozent. Für 2018 ist die Pro- gnose verhaltener, es wird mit ei- ner geringeren Umsatzsteigerung von 6,1 Prozent gerechnet. „In den Hauptmärkten der deutschen Ma- schinenbauer in Asien, insbesonde- re in China und Taiwan, wurden in den letzten zwölf Monaten erheb- lich neue Produktionskapazitäten aufgebaut. In Verbindung mit einer Anpassung der Förderrichtlinien im größten globalen Photovoltaik- Markt in China erwarten wir nur einen verhaltenen Aufbau neuer Produktionskapazitäten“, erklärt Dr. Peter Fath, Vorsitzender von VDMA Photovoltaik-Produktions- mittel. Investiert wird vor allem in Produktionstechnologien für effizi- entere Zellen. Zusammen mit deut- schen Forschungsinstitutenwerden Hocheffizienztechnologien wie PERC, Heterojunction und bifaziale Zellkonzepte entwickelt. 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