Mainly because the 2015 total installation capacity of new PV systems in Japan is likely to drop a great deal from 7GWp in 2014, and installations in China, the US and Europe are expected to remain unchanged at best, global installation capacity for PV systems to be set up in 2015 may either remain unchanged or slip on year, according to industry sources.
The government in Japan plans to significantly cut feed-in tariff rates due to high rooftop PV systems and PV power-generation station installations, the sources said. This will discourage installations and consequently the total installation capacity may shrink to as low as 1.5-2.0GWp in 2016, the sources indicated.
The China market originally set a target installation capacity of 14GWp for 2014 but, lagged far behind in the first half of the year, and has downward adjusted the target to 13GWp, the sources said. Although there has been a rush to install PV systems in the fourth quarter, total installation capacity in 2014 is expected to reach only 10GWp and that in 2015 will be flat at best, the sources indicated.
Total installation capacity in the US is estimated at 5GWp in 2014 and is expected to remain unchanged in 2015, and for Europe total installation capacity is expected to reach 9GWp in 2014 and 2015, the sources indicated.
