June 1, 2012—In a new report entitled, “Thin Film Photovoltaics CIS/CIGS Technology and Market,” market-research firm Electronics.ca Publications (Quebec, Canada) announced 29 May that the global market for photovoltaic inverters is poised for growth at a CAGR of 8 percent from 2011 to 2015. The driver of this growth is the need to integrate photovoltaic (PV) inverters into energy storage devices. Moderating factors are an increasing number of entrants into the PV inverter market in 2010 and 2011, and the decline of PV inverter prices in 2012. Inverter manufacturers, like all PV component suppliers, face a market downturn in 2012 due to uncertainty in feed-in-tariffs and incentives in most major European markets.
Although crystalline silicon PV maintains a dominant position in the market, copper-indium-selenium (CIS) and copper-indium-gallium-selenium (CIGS) thin-film PV are promising for their potential high efficiency and low manufacturing cost, if barriers related to complexity and manufacturing can be overcome. The report analyzes various CIS/CIGS technologies and how CIS fares among PV technologies, the ongoing PV market and technology consolidation, and manufacturing issues facing equipment suppliers and module manufacturers.
Covering the Americas, the EMEA, and APAC regions, the report also includes a discussion and company profiles of 23 key CIS manufacturers operating in this market. More about the report can be found at www.electronics.ca/publications/.