Half of All Solar Panels Made in 2009 Won't Be Installed in 2009, Says iSuppli

Aug 11, 2009 15:41 Nikkei Electronics Asia

The solar panel glut is so bad that nearly half of all panels made this year won't be sold in 2009 and the oversupply will persist until 2012, says iSuppli.

"The solar industry in 2009 has been undermined by collapse in demand due to the decision by Spain - which accounted for 50% of worldwide installations in 2008 - to change its feed-in-tariff policies," said Henning Wicht, senior director and principal analyst for photovoltaics at iSuppli. "This demand drop led to a massive buildup of inventory throughout the supply chain, from the raw material polysilicon, to Photovoltaic (PV) cells, to complete solar systems. Despite this, solar panel makers have continued to increase capacity and production, exacerbating the inventory buildup."

The research firm said total solar panel production in 2009 will grow by 14.3% 7.5 Gigawatts (GW), up from 6.5GW in 2008. However, only 3.9 GW worth of installations will take place this year. That means that almost one out of every two panels produced in 2009 will not be installed but stored in inventory.

iSuppli's forecast now shows supplier production flattening for the years from 2011 through 2013 compared to the old forecast.

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