June 17, 2013: Solar PV to Become $155 Billion Market by 2018
United States Will Emerge as the World’s Second-Largest Market
BOSTON — The solar photovoltaic (PV) market is poised to rise from its 2011 manufacturing crisis to grow to $155 billion in 2018, as market forces engineer a turnaround to a healthy 10.5 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), according to Lux Research. In the most likely scenario, the PV market will grow at a modest clip to 35 GW in 2013 before rapidly ramping up to 61.7 GW in 2018.
“Manufacturers’ nightmare is turning into a long-term boon for the industry. Record low prices pushed gross margins to near zero or below, but they’ve made solar installations competitive in more markets,” said Ed Cahill, Lux Research associate and the lead author of the report, “Market Size Update 2013: Return to Equilibrium.”