Ground-Mount Solar PV Rises Alongside Major Asian Markets

Global PV demand trends can be evaluated in a number of ways, for example by customer, by application type, or by region. Dissecting demand data this way can reveal important trends in terms of how the industry operates, as different segmentations have unique characteristics in terms of supplier and downstream business model preferences, and can even impact long-term technology trends.

Furthermore, evaluating trends over time can reveal how shifts in demand can be correlated across different segmentation types. The graphs below show trailing-twelve month (TTM) global demand, for roof-mount and ground-mount application types (left), and market shares of Europe and Major Asia-Pacific (APAC) country regions. This comparison shows a correlation between the decline of the European markets and stagnation of global roof-mount installations.

As Major APAC countries (driven by China and Japan) have become the leading drivers of the global PV industry, it is clear that the ground-mount application segment is also outpacing roof-mount deployment. This has impacts for both upstream component suppliers and downstream project developers, and it illustrates that global demand shifts on a regional perspective can also have impacts on application types which, in turn, can cause changes in technology trends.

The overall PV industry chain is still a combination of different drivers in both the upstream and downstream segments; only by understanding global, regional, and other demand segmentation trends can industry players prepare for changes and be ready to seize new opportunities.

TTM Baseline Demand by Application Type and Market Share by Major Region