China will again take the leading share of the total annual photovoltaic (PV) demand worldwide in 2017, says the latest Gold Member Solar Report by EnergyTrend, a division of TrendForce. China’s solar demand for this year has surpassed earlier expectations due to the surging installations of distributed PV systems. With China’s contribution, the annual global PV demand is also projected to cross the 100-gigawatt mark for the first time in 2017, coming to a 100.4 gigawatts. Compared with 2016, this year’s global PV demand will advance by about 26%. As the Chinese government continues to support its domestic solar sector, the annual global PV demand is expected to top 100 gigawatts through to 2019.
Prices of LED light bulbs showed a slight decline this August, according to the latest reporting from LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. Compared with July, the global ASP of 40-watt equivalent LED light bulbs fell by 1.1% to US$6.4, while the global ASP of 60-watt equivalent LED light bulbs dropped by 1.5% to US$7.7.
The latest PV market analysis from EnergyTrend, a division of TrendForce, finds that the average global spot price of polysilicon has surged by 20% between the end of July and the middle of August. The polysilicon supply has tightened up suddenly because the leading supplier in China had to do an emergency repair at one of its factories. This added to the pressure on the supply caused by annual plant maintenance works carried out by other suppliers.
LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, reports that the global average sales prices (ASP) of LED light bulbs fell in July compared with the prior month. The global ASP of 40-watt equivalent products dropped by 0.9% to US$6.5, while the global ASP of 60-watt equivalent products dropped by 2.8% to US$7.8.
The U.S. has further lowered the antidumping and countervailing (AD/CVD) rates imposed on Chinese and Taiwanese solar imports in 2012 and 2014, according official statements on the recent AD/CVD reviews conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Many PV cells and module manufacturers have managed to evade U.S. trade barriers by setting up factories in third-party countries, majority of them in Southeast Asia. However, TrendForce’s green energy division EnergyTrend believes that the reduction of AD/CVD rates will have an impact on the global market this third quarter.