Dec 2, 2020   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Worldwide Thin-Film Module Industry to 2025 - by Type, Application and Geography - ResearchAndMarkets.com

The "Global Thin-Film Module Market - Forecasts from 2020 to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Global Thin-film PV module market was valued at US$9.027 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.74% over the forecast period to reach a total market size of US$11.253 billion in 2025.

Thin-film solar modules are made from thin-film solar cells. Thin-film solar cells (TFSCs) are the second-generation solar cells which are made from multiple thin-film layers of photovoltaic (PV) materials.

These solar cells have a very thin layer of thickness, measured in nanometers, as compared to conventional P-N junction solar cells. As such, thin-film PV modules are more flexible and lighter in weight and are used in developing integrated photovoltaics. The thin-film technology has been relatively economical despite being lesser efficient compared to the conventional c-Si (crystalline silicon) technology. However, this technology has significantly improved owing to constant research and development over the years. As a result of R&D, the efficiency of CdTe and CIGS PV cells is now over 21 per cent which has outperformed multi-crystalline silicon which still dominates the solar PV module industry.

North America holds a significant share in the global thin-film module market

By geography, the global thin-film module market has been segmented into five major regional markets- North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Asia Pacific (APAC).

North America accounted for a substantial share in the global thin-film module market in 2019. With tariff imposition on silicon-based PV modules by the United States in 2018, thin-film solar module manufacturing has increased in the country, with U.S. manufacturer First Solar being one of the major market players in the global thin-film module market. According to the EIA (the U.S. Energy Information Administration), the country manufactured more than 600 MW of thin-film modules in 2019. After this tariff imposition, 8 GW of imported PV modules did not tariff in 2019 while the majority of these modules (4.3 GW) were thin-film modules.

In October 2019, First Solar announced the start of production at its new PV module manufacturing facility in Ohio. This new production facility made the company's total annualized production capacity equal to 1.9 GW in the United States. Both Ohio production facilities manufacture Series 6 module, which is a larger CdTe thin-film solar module and comparable in size to conventional 72-cell crystalline silicon modules. Europe also holds a decent share in the global thin-film module market throughout the forecast period owing to rising R&D activities and high focus on the reduction of carbon footprints across the region.

Impact of COVID-19 on the global thin-film PV module market

The recent global pandemic outbreak caused due COVID-19 has negatively impacted the growth of thin-film PV module market. On the supply side, global supply chain disruption and reduction in productivity across manufacturing facilities due to mandatory social distancing measures has crippled the production of thin-film modules. On the demand side, solar installation have been hit hard by this pandemic with subsequent lockdown and declining business spending leading to postpone of several solar projects.

Companies Mentioned

  • SOLAR FRONTIER K.K.
  • United Solar Ovonic LLC
  • Soltecture Solartechnik GmbH
  • TS Solar GmbH
  • NanoPV Solar Inc
  • SoloPower Systems, Inc.
  • Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Europe
  • FLISOM Flexible Solar Modules
  • First Solar
  • Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc.
  • Antec Solar GmbH
  • Toledo Solar Inc.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction

2. Research Methodology

3. Executive Summary

4. Market Dynamics

4.1. Market Drivers

4.2. Market Restraints

4.3. Porters Five Forces Analysis

4.4. Industry Value Chain Analysis

4.5. Market Attractiveness

5. Global Thin-film PV module Market Analysis, By Type

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide (CIGS)

5.3. Amorphous Silicon (a-Si)

5.4. Cadmium Telluride (CdTe)

6. Global Thin-film PV module Market Analysis, By Application

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Building Integrated PV

6.3. Rooftop applications

6.4. Utility-scale applications

7. Global Thin-film PV module Market Analysis, By Geography

7.1. Introduction

7.2. North America

7.3. South America

7.4. Europe

7.5. Middle East and Africa

7.6. Asia Pacific

8. Competitive Environment and Analysis

8.1. Major Players and Strategy Analysis

8.2. Emerging Players and Market Lucrativeness

8.3. Mergers, Acquisitions, Agreements, and Collaborations

8.4. Vendor Competitiveness Matrix

9. Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6ox43s