Despite the outlook for the PV manufacturing equipment market remaining bleak in 2012, a new report from IMS Research forecasts that there could be a 20 GW opportunity for the upgrade or replacement of existing capacity over the next four years.

A new survey of more than 400 buyers of PV inverters has revealed a growing acceptance of Chinese products, with close to 30% of respondents indicating they were of acceptable quality, according to IMS Research. The recent survey, conducted in Q4 last year also revealed however that customers also wanted increased reliability, functionality and yields, with more than half prepared to pay a premium for a 1% yield gain. 

The average production capacity utilization rate of Chinese Tier 2 crystalline PV module manufacturers fell to just 35% in Q4’11 according to the latest quarterly report from IMS Research and is forecast to fall even lower in Q1’12. As a result of high inventory levels and a weak outlook for demand in 2012, many suppliers closed down production lines, or suspended production entirely, resulting in utilization falling to the lowest level IMS Research has recorded. This is a sharp contrast to a year ago, when utilization rates of these suppliers hit 80% in Q4’10.

Global solar PV installations will reach 24 GW in 2011 according to a new report from IMS Research. The report found that despite the relatively weak start to the year, installations will rise by 24% in 2011 to reach 24 GW, up from 19 GW in 2010. The research also revealed that European installations will rise by just 3% this year and that Italy will displace Germany as the world’s largest market.

The expansion of PV module, cell and wafer manufacturing capacity will slow dramatically throughout the rest of 2011 and the first half of 2012 according to the latest quarterly report from IMS Research. Production capacity has been added at a frantic pace for the last two years and almost 30 GW of capacity has been added since the start of 2010, but expansions have finally slowed in response to slowing demand in many key regions and a severe oversupply of PV products, revealed the market research firm.

IMS Research has today started the largest survey of buyers and users of solar inverters that will collect opinions from hundreds of installers, integrators and wholesalers about their purchasing requirements. The survey will be used to form the detailed analysis of a new report “PV Inverter Customer Opinions & Requirements Survey”. To help reward installers and integrators who complete the survey, IMS Research will be offering a free €10 Amazon voucher and the chance to win a new iPad 2.

Use of disruptive technologies in the PV inverter industry grew strongly in 2010 with shipments of microinverters and power optimizers growing by well over 500%; however, they still accounted for less than 1% of PV inverter revenues, according to IMS Research’s latest report on this emerging market. Most shipments have so far been limited to only a few suppliers such as Enphase and SolarEdge which have seen success in the microinverter and DC-DC power optimizer markets respectively. However, there are more than 20 suppliers now known to be active, and many more in ‘stealth mode’ and the market is forecast to more than double on average every year to 2015.

The three largest suppliers of PV modules in Q2’11 were all Chinese according to the latest industry report from IMS Research. Suntech, Yingli and Trina Solar collectively grew their shipments by almost 20% over the previous quarter despite difficult market conditions, increasing their market share and furthering China’s growing dominance in this market.

Despite a very weak start to the year, IMS Research has recently increased its forecast for the full year by more than 1 GW and predicts more than 22 GW of new PV capacity will be added in 2011.The market research firm cited growing demand in all major markets, most notably in Asia and the Americas, as well as a pick-up in the sluggish German market and projects that installations in the second half of the year will be nearly double that seen in the first 6 months.

A period of highly competitive pricing from PV module suppliers has led to gross margins declining by over 25% in the last six months, according to the latest analysis from IMS Research. Suppliers have been forced to engage in a tough price war, but have not been able to reduce their costs as quickly as their prices; their margins have been the victim.