Solar photovoltaic (PV) projects between 250kW and 5MW now account for almost half of the yet-to-be-completed 4,300 commercial and utility projects within the leading PV countries, according to Solarbuzz.
The leading countries for solar PV demand now include five major countries in the Asia-Pacific region (i.e., China, Japan, India, Thailand, and Australia), four Europe-based countries (i.e., Germany, UK, Italy, and France) and North America (i.e., US and Canada). Collectively, these end-markets are expected to provide more than 80% of global solar PV demand during the next five years.
The total project pipeline for the leading solar PV countries has reached almost 95GW, with the largest projects, in excess of 50MW, making up 68% of the total capacity on offer, although there are currently less than 500 such projects in the pipeline. "While projects in excess of 50MW account for most of the solar PV pipeline capacity, smaller projects up to 5MW can typically be approved and completed within a matter of months, making this segment particularly interesting to suppliers and developers," said Chris Beadle, analyst at Solarbuzz.
China, Japan, and the US are expected to drive new solar PV capacity deployments over the next five years. Currently, these three leading countries offer a pipeline of more than 3,600 PV projects of greater than 250kW, which is equivalent to a total capacity of 65GW. Solarbuzz forecasts that 24GW of new commercial and utility projects will be completed in these three countries during 2014.
"Understanding the status of the project pipeline within the leading global markets is critical to component suppliers and project developers seeking to participate in the high-growth solar PV industry," added Finlay Colville, VP at Solarbuzz. "With global PV demand still concentrated among just a few countries, sales and marketing efforts will achieve the greatest rewards when they are aligned with projects that have the best chance for near-term deployment."