Photovoltaic Market Situation - Must Read RE INSIDER Column

Price Decrease and Consolidation: The Solar PV Supply Chain

In this week’s RE INSIDER Column on RenewableEnergyAccess.com,
Edwin Koot, Founder and CEO of SolarPlaza.com, has written a pragmatic article about the current state of the PV Industry, Price Decrease and Consolidation: The Solar PV Supply Chain.

Mr. Koot has more original PV market articles on the SolarPlaza site well worth reading:
Spanish market in need of permits
PV in Italy: sunny future but slow and chaotic start (also on REA)

I am pleased to see some confirmation of my own observations in the following posts:
7. Forum Solarpraxis
German Market for Solar Modules soft
3rd PV Industry Forum at the EU PVSEC: Cost, Cost, Cost and Price / Politics (pro version on REA)

I heard Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE:STP) talked about lowering solar module prices by 5% in their Third Quarter 2006 Conference Call (I haven’t listened to it myself yet). This confirms my intuition that Suntech Power was lowering solar module prices in the US while other solar module manufacturers were raising prices in October 2006. I think Suntech Power is looking to gain market share and maintain lean inventories in a market with increasing solar module supply and tempered demand growth.

I was surprised to read how optimistic Jesse W. Pichel, Sr. Research Analyst, PiperJaffray (Piper Jaffray Companies, NYSE:PJC), was about the PV industry in his November 22, 2006 Industry Note, German Update From Solarpraxis; Solar Demand Stronger Than Anticipated.

GP Note: I could not find a link to Suntech Power’s Third Quarter 2006 Conference Call webcast in the Investor Relations section of their website, and I sent a request to their Investor Relations Team.