Rapid growth likely for chemicals and materials in PV solar cells/modules

BOSTON, USA: The market for advanced chemicals and materials used in PV solar cells and modules will decline in 2009 to $2.3 billion before resuming strong growth to approximately $15 billion by 2015, according to a new industry analysis report from Linx-AEI Consulting, a leading international consulting firm serving the photovoltaics and electronics industries.

The new report entitled Chemicals & Materials for Photovoltaic Cells and Modules, 2009, examines emerging materials requirements in solar cell and module production, and quantifies the global markets for these advanced chemicals and materials as follows:

PV Cell and Module Chemical and Material Demand
According to the new report, the driver of growth in the PV market will be the global end market demand for solar power, which is likely to grow from 5.7 GW to 36 GW over the same time period.

Combining unique perspectives on the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) as a function of module performance with geography-specific considerations such as local incentives and irradiance, Linx-AEI has developed long-term forecasts by cell type. As a result, this report includes detailed perspectives and insights into chemicals needs for individual cell and module types for crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, tandem-junction, CdTe and CI(G)S cells and modules.

Chemicals & Materials for Photovoltaic Cells and Modules, 2009, outlines market opportunities available to chemicals and materials suppliers as a result of strong volume growth in addition to technology-driven opportunities to deliver progress towards lower cost.

However, Mark Thirsk of Linx-AEI cautions: "This industry is still driven by the need to achieve grid parity and its evolution is still strongly impacted by policy. Therefore, there is a critical need for all value chain participants to continually monitor and understand LCOE, technology development, existing investment and changes in policy. This need has been clearly illustrated with the current turmoil in the supply of polysilicon."