Examining BIPV market in North and Southeast Asia

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report "BIPV Markets in North and Southeast Asia" to its offering.

This research service analyzes the current market trends, revenue distribution, key regulations, competitive structure, market drivers, market restraints, end-user analysis and market share analysis for the building integrated photovoltaic market in North Asia and Southeast Asia.

Market overview

Global Warming heats up BIPV market in North and Southeast Asia

With global warming endangering several species of life and posing bigger potential risks, there is an urgent need to curb its main cause -- greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Clean energy technologies such as wind, solar, and biomass are gradually being promoted over conventional, GHG-emitting power sources.

Among solar energies, BIPV is being increasingly sought out by real estate companies and builders for its distributed power generating ability, especially in the urban areas. Seeing that urban centers and cities are major power consumption centers and yet do precious little to cut back GHG emissions, high net worth individuals and commercial buildings have begun to extensively endorse 'green energy' to ensure a clean environment.

"Growing awareness among various end-user segments coupled with abundant availability of sunlight is fostering the growth of BIPV market in cities," says the analyst of this research. "Solar energy integrated townships and clean energy buildings are being extensively planned and supported to highlight the savings in energy and measure carbon dioxide emissions."

Breaking out of the confines of rural area deployment for distributed or centralized power generation, renewable energy, especially BIPV, is gaining widespread acceptance among city builders. One of the main reasons for its popularity is its prevention of transmission and distribution (T&D) loss, as electricity is consumed at the point of generation.

However, the BIPV market still has some ground to cover before it can aim for large-scale commercialization in North and Southeast Asia. This is because builders are put off by the high installation and generation costs, a minimum pay back period of six to eight years, and lack of an attractive feed-in-tariff from the utilities.

For reasons of economic viability and low product awareness, builders and real estate companies prefer to buy electricity from the utilities at a much cheaper rate than invest in renewable energy sources.

Despite the hurdles, BIPV power generation has made a case for itself with its unique ability to power mass applications in urban areas. While promoting energy efficiency and low energy use in buildings, it also offers multi-functional solutions for modern-day architecture.

Therefore, despite a slowdown in capacity additions, North Asia exhibits great potential for the commercial end-user segment. Among all the countries in this region, Japan is the one that has best cashed in on the opportunities in the commercial and residential segments.

"The withdrawal of subsidies in 2005 has had a moderate impact on the growth of the BIPV market," notes the analyst. "Meanwhile, in South Korea, the introduction of attractive feed-in-tariff in is likely to fuel the growth of centralized solar PV systems."

On the other hand, Southeast Asia holds promise for BIPV systems in both the residential and commercial end-user segments, thanks to a strong push from the government and solar subsidy programs. Malaysia has successfully deployed BIPV systems and other countries are soon likely to follow in its footsteps.

Singapore trails close behind Malaysia in BIPV deployment and installations in this country are forecast to increase from 2010 due to the introduction of the 'Green Mark Scheme' in the construction industry.

Evidently, it is vital to have solid government backing in the form of long-term subsidies and incentives. An attractive feed-in-tariff and a robust policy framework is needed to provide guidance to potential developers and end-users, while greater awareness through frequent information dissemination on the technology, economics, and business models of BIPV installations will also go a long way in buoying this market.

Reduced installation costs and integration in the industry are the other crucial factors that can kindle the interest of the industry stakeholders. This will also encourage R&D in BIPV systems' designing and facilitate large-scale commercialization of the technology.