Markets

Photovoltaic (PV) module shipments are set to decline by nearly 10 percent quarter on quarter in the first quarter of next year, according to IMS Research’s latest report.

The Australian state of Victoria has unveiled its plans to increase electricity supply from large scale-solar power to five per cent by 2020. Premier John Brumby announced that target was Australia’s most ambitious solar commitment and would be backed by the nation’s first feed-in tariff (FIT) for large-scale solar.

Utility-scale solar is set to be a big new trend, Brad Meikle, senior analyst and managing director of Renewable Analytics has told pv magazine. He also issued pricing advice on how module manufacturers can create a larger market for themselves.

As Intersolar North America drew to a close, analysts left the industry with upbeat forecasts for the solar market. “Things couldn’t be better in 2010,” Jefferies analyst Jesse Pichel told pv magazine.

The U.S. should be looked at as a long-term growth market said Shayle Kann, a senior analyst at GTM Research, during a talk at Intersolar North America in San Francisco, the U.S. on Thursday. “It’s not a place where you can come and develop projects and make a killing quickly,” he stated.

WIP, organizer of the 25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition/5th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (25th EU PVSEC/WCPEC-5), has announced that the exhibition area has been extended to 80,000 sqm, from 65,000 sqm last year, in order to accommodate more than 950 global exhibitors.

The Italian National Guidelines for the Autorizzazione Unica – the centralized procedure for the authorization of photovoltaics (PV) systems – have been readmitted to the political agenda, according to PV Legal.

Larry Hagman, who starred as oil magnate J.R. Ewing in the long-running TV series ‘Dallas’ has called on U.S. energy consumers at the first day of the Intersolar North America trade show to put their energy, economic and environmental security under their own power by embracing solar technology made by Americans.

As an expected 20,000 solar devotees gather in San Francisco, the U.S. for the Intersolar North America trade show and conference, it is clear the industry’s mood is in an upswing. With global solar shipments up 92 percent in the second quarter, compared to the same quarter a year ago, and research firm iSuppli projecting a 92.9 percent increase in installations for the full year, attendees say it has become easier to be optimistic.

Photovoltaics (PV) module shipments increased for the fifth consecutive quarter in the second quarter of this year, to 3.7 gigawatts (GW), thus generating USD$7.1 billion in revenues, according to IMS Research’s latest quarterly report on the solar cell and module market.