market forecast

The residential solar industry in the US will be set for a growth spurt in 2023 and beyond as homeowner concerns combine with the blossoming impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). So says the first “Solar Industry Snapshot” report from solar PV software provider Aurora Solar.

The Commercial and Industrial (C&I) renewables market in India is expected to grow by 47GW over the next five years, as policy tailwinds and decarbonisation targets spur growth.

Australian rooftop solar installations have passed the 20GW threshold, with the sector set to overtake coal-fired generation in April to become the largest power generator in the country.

US community solar deployment is expected to more than double over the next five years despite 2022 seeing a 16% decline year-on-year, as the sector is set to see benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) taking hold.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is set to boost investment into US renewable energy deployment and manufacturing from US$64 billion in 2022 to US$114 billion by 2031, according to research from Wood Mackenzie, though a mismatch between solar deployment demand and domestic manufacturing capacity may see the sector’s domestic profile lag behind.

The EU installed 47% more solar in 2022 than last year and is on track to double its capacity by 2026 to an expected 484GW, according to a report by industry association SolarPower Europe.

Corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) have hit record levels in the Asia Pacific region as fuel prices rise and the cost of renewables falls, according to Wood Mackenzie principal analyst, Kyeongho Lee.

It will be 10 times more expensive to operate gas-fired power plants in Europe than to build new Solar PV capacity in the coming years, according to research by Rystad Energy.

Japan is forecast to have 111GW of installed solar by 2025 under a business as usual scenario, with this rising to 154GW by 2030. If it were to aim higher, however, under an ‘accelerated scenario’, it could hit 115GW of installed PV by 2025 and top 180GW by 2030, according to a new analysis by RTS Corporation.

Solar’s dominance in recent renewables auctions in Poland has further reinforced the promising outlook for the market, with developers and analysts welcoming support provided for the construction of smaller projects.