South East Asia's PV capacity to hit 5 GW by 2016

Nov 1, 2012 - Solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in south-eastern Asia might surge to 5 GW by 2016, led by Thailand and Indonesia, according to IMS Research.

The market intelligence firm said today it expected installations to record annual growth of 50% during the next five years and surpass 1 GW of capacity additions per year by 2015, with the region's market share rising more than four times by 2016.

During the past few years Thailand was the largest solar power market in the region and in 2012 the country is seen to take the fifth place in Asia, following China, Japan, India and Australia. Large-scale projects were the main contributor to the growth, but from next year residential solar installations will be more common after the introduction of a new incentive scheme for rooftop systems. IMS expects that the market share of utility installations will drop by 25% by 2016.

"Although the market is currently dominated by Thailand, a number of countries within the South East Asia region have huge potential for PV and offer significant opportunities to suppliers, and these will account for a growing share of the market in the future," according to Jessica Jin, PV market analyst at IMS Research. The Indonesian solar market, for example, is expected to rapidly expand, developing almost 1 GW of PV installations in the next four years as a result of the rising demand for electricity.

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