New report predicts further market consolidation
The global market for concentrated solar power is expected to expand nearly 200 per cent over the next five years, as sun-drenched countries seek to tap into the emerging technology.
A new report from GlobalData, published this week, predicts total installed capacity of concentrated solar photovolatic (CPV) plants will jump from 357.9MW in 2013 to 1,044MW by 2020.
The analysis reveals that China and the US currently host around one-third of the world's concentrated solar capacity each. Spain has around 12 per cent, Portugal has just over five per cent while Italy has just over four per cent.
Swati Singh, an analyst at GlobalData, said the fledgling technology was now looking towards larger commercial-scale systems.
"The CPV market is at a nascent stage, especially with the technology evolving and achieving new heights of efficiency improvement," she said. "Companies that have been successful in operating CPV prototype systems in pilot sites are now progressing towards multi-MW CPV projects."
However, she added the market was likely to undergo further consolidation over the coming years. Since 2009, many firms in the market have gone bust or been acquired by other companies.
"A further concern in the CPV industry is the reliability and performance of the systems, although significant efforts have been made to develop International Electrotechnical Commission standards for CPV-system certification," Singh said.
