Orders for German PV manufacturing equipment jump in Q1

German companies making photovoltaics (PV) manufacturing equipment saw order intake in the first quarter (Q1) of 2016 jump by 142% year-on-year and 40% quarter-on-quarter.

The industry sees a positive development in incoming orders and revenue in the coming months too, said Jutta Trube, head of Photovoltaic Equipment at the German Engineering Federation (VDMA). Asia accounted for 75% of Q1 orders, followed by the USA with 12%, Germany with 9% and the rest of Europe with 4%.

“The demand for highly efficient production technology such as PERC, PERT and the like is at a high level. Many of the existing systems will be equipped with these technologies,” Trube added.

Globally, companies are making significant investments in solar cell manufacturing capacities. Germany PV machinery suppliers hold a global market share of over 50%. Their Q1 revenues were up by 60% on the year, with the share of exports being 89%. Revenue from the Far East represented 74% of total revenues in the quarter, while the US brought 13%.

In terms of technology, PV cell production equipment remained the number-one source of revenue in January-March with a share of 61%, followed by ingots and wafer with 20%, crystalline backend-module production with 13%, and thin-film PV with 6%.

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