PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

World production for solar cells grew 40 percent in 2001

The world production of solar cells for terrestrial power applications grew 39.7 percent to 401.4 megawatts. This is the most important finding of a survey published in the March issue of PHOTON International - The Photovoltaic Magazine.

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The top ten cell producers have constituted an exclusive, impenetrable circle over the last two years. In 2001, they accounted for 85.1 percent (341.6 MW) of global cell production.

»The governmental programs for photovoltaic solar electricity applications in Japan and Germany have kick-started a worldwide boom currently unmatched in other industries,« says Michael Schmela, editor of PHOTON International, the leading PV industry magazine.

The dominating country is Japan, which accounted for 43 percent of global cell production. Europe-based companies (24.6 percent) produced more than their US counterparts (23.6 percent) for the first time. Once a world leader, the US has continuously been loosing market shares due to a lack of federal funding. The workhorses of the European photovoltaics industry were Spain (36.9 MW) and Germany (32.4 MW), each responsible for approximately one third of the total European production.

Four of the top ten companies were Japanese cell manufactures (Sharp, Kyocera, Sanyo, Mitsubishi Electric). The world's largest manufacturer was Sharp, which defended its number one position it has held since 2000. An increase in production of 46.8 percent from 50.4 MW to 74 MW helped Sharp to grow faster than the industry average and increase its overall world market share about 1 percent to 18.4 percent. Trailing far behind were BP Solar (54.4 MW) and Kyocera (54 MW). The fastest growing European company among the top ten was Isofoton from Spain, which almost doubled its production to 18.7 MW. The only top ten manufacturer from Germany was RWE Solar GmbH.

This year the solar cell manufacturers plan to increase their production about 55 percent to 620 MW. Led by Sharp, which plans to increase its production capacities to 148 MW by summer, Japanese companies will continue their dominate role. At the same time, strong expansion plans of established European companies and several newcomers are expected to help to increase the European market share.

For the market survey on world cell production, PHOTON International has interviewed 52 manufacturers from Australia, China, India, Japan, Taiwan, the USA, and eleven European countries. The complete survey is published in the March issue of PHOTON International.