North American PV market to double Y/Y in Q4 2011 - Solarbuzz

Nov 30, 2011 - The North American photovoltaic (PV) market will surge 101% year-on-year and 33% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a quarterly market report by industry researcher Solarbuzz.

The report, North America PV Markets Quarterly, projects 800 MW of PV capacity to be installed during the fourth quarter and the total demand to surpass 2.2 GW in 2011.

The US is seen to account for 84% of the quarterly demand in North America and Canada to account for the remaining 16%. The US state of California will remain the largest single market accounting for 21% of the North American market, followed by Canadian province of Ontario with a market share of 16%, and the state of New Jersey with 11%.

The current growth in the US PV market is supported by the federal cash grant which will expire in 2012, but is required to continue, which would further encourage its expansion. The Ontario PV market growth is driven by the province's feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme. The FIT rate is expected to decline but local content requirements are seen to remain.

Ground-mounted installations are expected to account for 38% of the market, followed by building-mounted non-residential systems which will have a 37% share of the market.

The North American PV market is facing strong utility-scale demand, declining solar incentives in distributed generation applications, module oversupply and policy uncertainty. The report expects the market's size to triple by 2015.

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