The Fraunhofer ISE Photovoltaics Report 2019

[Fraunhofer ISE] Photovoltaics is a fast growing market: The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of PV installations was 24% between 2010 to 2017. The intention of the "Photovoltaics Report" published by Fraunhofer ISE is to provide up-to-date information on the PV market and on efficiencies of solar cells, modules and systems. Moreover, data on inverters, energy payback time and price developments are presented.

The record lab cell efficiency is 26.7% for mono-crystalline and 22.3% for multi-crystalline silicon wafer-based technology. The highest lab efficiency in thin film technology is 23.4% for CIGS and 21.0% for CdTe solar cells. In the laboratory, high concentration multi-junction solar cells achieve an efficiency of up to 47.1% today. With concentrator technology, module efficiencies of up to 38.9% have been reached. Graph: Fraunhofer ISE 2019.

Key facts:

• Photovoltaics is a fast growing market: The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of PV
  installations was 36.8% between year 2010 to 2018.
• Concerning PV module production in 2017, China&Taiwan hold the lead with a share of 70%,
  followed by Rest of Asia-Pacific & Central Asia (ROAP/CA) with 14.8%. 
• Europe contributed with a share of 3.1% (compared to 4% in 2016); USA/CAN contributed 3.7%.
• In 2018, Europe’s contribution to the total cumulative PV installations amounted to 25% (compared to 26% in 2017). 
• In contrast, installations in China accounted for 36% (compared to 32% in 2017).
• Si-wafer based PV technology accounted for about 95% of the total production in 2017. The share of multi-crystalline technology is now about 62% (compared to 70% in 2016) of total production.

Source: Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, ISE with support of PSE GmbH Photovoltaics Report [ PDF  2.38 MB ]