PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

Market survey on global cell and module production in 2004

Last year's PV market growth surpassed anything the industry has experienced in its brief history. While the established players continued to expand, several new companies came onto the scene. For the first time, our annual market survey includes information on both module and cell production, thereby giving you an even better picture of the market.


Crossing the GW-level: Last year alone worldwide solar cell production reached 1,256 MW, a 67 percent increase over the 750 MW output in 2003.

It was not so long ago that the PV industry celebrated a global installed capacity of 1GW. To be exact, the industry reached this milestone in 2001, which in the time-scale of PV evolution seems like eons ago. Last year alone worldwide solar cell production reached 1,256 MW, a 67 percent increase over the 750 MW output in 2003. This jump comes after stagnation in the growth curve in 2003, when cell output increased just 34 percent from the year before. Between 2001 and 2002, the world market increased by around 40 percent. The complete survey is published in the March issue of PHOTON International.