IHS forecasts 498 GW of solar PV globally in 2019

The world’s solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity will hit 498 GW in 2019, IHS (NYSE:IHS) projects, with annual demand growing steadily.

The PV market has already begun its shift toward a more supply-driven market, with high utilisation rates at module production. This trend is to remain through 2019, said Susanne von Aichberger, solar industry analyst for IHS. By then the annual solar demand is expected to reach 75 GW, up by 66% from 2014.

“An increasing number of markets are entering the post-feed-in-tariff phase and embracing the integration of PV into the electricity market, which will help the market to avoid boom-and-bust situations,” commented Aichberger.

Over the next five years, IHS expects to see 11 global markets surpass 1 GW of annual demand. Having more gigawatt-level solar markets will in turn lead to reduced demand volatility, according to the latest IHS Marketbuzz report.

The market analytics company expects the average selling prices (ASPs) of standard crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules to drop by 27% between 2015 and 2019. The share of thin-film modules produced is seen falling from 8% in 2014 to 7% in 2015 and remaining there through 2019.

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