l'Actualité du Solaire

The pandemic has led to the postponement of auctions in several regions, including Europe and the Middle East, but the construction of some large power plants is continuing, indicating a demand from electricity companies. The containment in Europe and the United States has had

a greater impact on distributed facilities, which has repercussions on manufacturers with this clientele. Against this background, PV InfoLink is lowering its forecast for global installations to 109 GW due to the bleak outlook for foreign markets.

While delays have been granted to the manufacturers, Most countries have not provided a new precise timetable, as it is difficult to predict the duration of the pandemic. For the moment, C&I rooftop projects are feeling the greatest impacts.

Demand in China is expected to remain stable as the pandemic has been gradually brought under control. At the beginning of April, the Chinese government published new feed-in tariffs. As a result, the forecasts remain fixed at 40 GW, with demand maintained in the 2nd and 3rd ^quarters.

Foreign markets remain difficult. If the pandemic persists, world demand could fall to 98 GW!

Chinese manufacturers suspended their production in January. They started to resume deliveries from the end of February. The factories worked at 80% in March, with a catch-up in the supply of panels. The impact of the pandemic affected production in March and April. Demand is uncertain in the second quarter. Manufacturers have lowered their prices as demand is not expected to rebound. Recent single-PERC prices stand at US$0.198 - 0.21 / W in foreign markets.

In this pandemic, the major panel manufacturers are benefiting from their reputation and capturing demand. Their level of orders is much higher than that of Tier 2 manufacturers as they benefit from brand advantages, marketing channels and costs. The market share of the top 10 panel manufacturers is expected to increase significantly in 2020.

PV InfoLink of 29 April