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News

13 April 2007

 

Emerging PV technologies growing at 43% annually

In 2006, the photovoltaic solar cell industry grew 30% to a consolidated figure of 2.1GW, says market research firm Fuji-Keizai U.S.A. Inc in its new report ‘Global Market: Current & Next Generation Solar Cell & Related Material Market Outlooks’.

Currently, the market is dominated by solar cells based on mono- and multi-crystalline silicon technologies. In contrast, of the 2.1GW total in 2006, only 0.22GW used emerging technologies, i.e. thin-film amorphous, dye-sensitized cells, organic and polymer, nano-crystalline, and other thin-film technologies such as cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), copper indium diselenide (CIS), and gallium arsenide (GaAs) .

However, the market for solar cells using such emerging technologies is estimated to increase tremendously over the next 10 years at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 43.1%, capturing more than 13% of the total market (in MW capacity). Fuji-Keizai reckons that this growth is due to the demand for non-silicon-based solar cells, higher efficiency, cost reduction, and overall awareness of extracting energy from alternative sources.

Visit: http://www.fuji-keizai.com