Wood Mackenzie

Investments in battery storage within Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) are increasingly profitable due to higher power price volatility and changing market dynamics, according to the latest report by Wood Mackenzie. Going forward, four-hour storage systems are projected to have fastest return on investment.

The “US Solar Market Insight Q4 2024” report, published by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, states that domestic module manufacturing will be able to match the rapid pace of growth in the US solar industry, with cell production also ramping up.

Wood Mackenzie predicts that the global floating solar market will be dominated by the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region and led by India, China and Indonesia through to 2033. The consultancy says growth will be driven by rising demand, decreased capital expenditure and supportive policies.

Now that incentives from the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are well understood, global manufacturers are announcing factories in the United States to constitute much of the solar supply chain. While some plans have been scrapped already, and more cancellations are expected, the broader trend is unprecedented growth.

Global tracker shipments reached 92 GWdc last year, according to WoodMackenzies’ latest report. The US accounted for the majority of the global market, with three US-based manufacturers, Nextracker, Array Technologies and GameChange Solar, ranking as the three largest shippers in the world.

Wood Mackenzie says in its latest report that low prices and integrated supply chains allow Chinese manufacturers to supply more than 65% of total global demand for renewables equipment, with its exports growing by 35% between 2019 and 2023.

With California’s NEM 3.0 legislation having gutted panel sales and Arizona heading a bevy of other US states preparing to reduce solar-export payments, it’s time the United States solar industry stepped up, for ourselves as well as our customers.

Mercom Capital Group says that total corporate solar funding, global venture capital funding, public market financing, and PV mergers and acquisitions all fell year on year in the first quarter of 2024. The sector is still grappling with high interest rates, which Wood Mackenzie says is disproportionately affecting renewables projects.

Wood Mackenzie says the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) in the Asia-Pacific region hit an all-time low in 2023, as utility-scale PV beat coal to become the cheapest power source. It predicts a further drop in costs for new-build solar projects, driven by falling module prices and oversupply from China.

The number of PV installations around the world grew by an annual average of 28% between 2019 and 2023, including a 56% jump from 2022 to 2023, according to Wood Mackenzie. Growth is not expected from 2024 to 2028, however.