Significantly decreased global demand has pressed Taiwan-based crystalline silicon solar cell makers to lower quotes from an average level of US$0.30-0.32/W for polycrystalline silicon models in February 2015 to that of US$0.28-0.32/W currently, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
Decreased global demand is mainly because demand for PV modules in the Europe and Japan markets has shrunk as procurement cost has risen along with depreciation of Euro and Japanese Yen against US dollar, the sources said.
Due to the decreased demand, first-tier Taiwan-based solar cell makers are likely to see utilization of production capacities drop from 80-90% in early 2015 to 60-70% at the end of March and others may see that slip to about 50%, the sources indicated.
If solar cell prices further drop, Taiwan-based makers may be forced to reduce output in a bid to curb price falls, the sources said.
To cope with price drops, Taiwan-based solar cell makers have been making efforts to hike energy conversion rates for polycrystalline silicon models to an estimated level of 17.6-17.8% in the second quarter of 2015, the sources indicated.
