Photovoltaic Market Development Research Articles

Decarbonization Obstacles in the Context of the Photovoltaic Market Development in Poland From the Social (Prosumers’) Perspective

Background: Decarbonization of economies is a key development priority of the European Union. As nonrenewable fuels prevail in Poland’s energy balance, the country has faced serious problems regarding priority implementation for many years. Research objectives: Given the said circumstances, the objective of this article is to identify obstacles to using renewable energy sources (solar energy) from the prosumers’ perspective. Research design and methods: During the research, I used the results of surveys conducted on a representative sample of 754 Polish prosumers. The results underwent an analysis based on descriptive statistics and nonparametric statistical tests, including Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The major obstacles to the development of photovoltaics in Poland from the prosumers’ perspective include financial difficulties, mainly the costs of photovoltaic system installation and insufficient state subsidies for such products. Conclusions: Hence, the state activities aimed at promoting decarbonization must consider extending the financial support for photovoltaics, simplifying the procedures to apply for RES funding, and stabilizing the conditions of transaction cost settlements on the photovoltaic market.

Exploring the impact of carbon finance policy on photovoltaic market development – An experience from China

Solar energy is one of the most promising clean energy photovoltaic markets that will play an important role in countries achieving economic decarbonization. A carbon financial policy is an environmental policy that utilizes financial means to reduce carbon emissions. In addition, few existing studies have used textual analysis to study the impact and mechanism of carbon financial policy on the photovoltaic market development. In order to provide theoretical and empirical support for exploring new paths, modes, and practices of carbon financial policies to promote the development of the photovoltaic market, this paper empirically analyzes the impacts and heterogeneity of carbon financial policy on photovoltaic market development based on authoritative policy perspectives with the data of 30 provinces in China from 2015 to 2021 as the research samples and explores the mechanism of its action. The study results show that carbon financial policy positively affects photovoltaic market development, and the conclusion still holds after the robustness test. Meanwhile, there is significant heterogeneity in the effects of carbon financial policies on photovoltaic market development regarding functional positioning, geographic location, economic development, resource endowment, and environmental regulation. As for the mechanism of action, carbon finance policies can promote photovoltaic market development by alleviating financing constraints, increasing innovation vitality, and promoting digital financial inclusion. The breadth of coverage and depth of use positively affect photovoltaic market development, but the degree of digitization does not have a significant effect.

Development of Roadmap for Photovoltaic Solar Technologies and Market in Poland

Poland is dynamically changing its energy mix. As a result of this process, solar energy is increasing its share in energy production. The development of the solar energy market is determined by numerous factors. This paper aims to develop a roadmap for further development of the photovoltaic (PV) energy market in Poland. The scope of the research covers five areas of PV technology and market development in Poland: (i) technology; (ii) power grids; (iii) law; (iv) economic conditions; and (v) social conditions. With the use of a Technology Roadmapping Methodology (TRM), for each of the determined areas, several factors were analyzed, and their development paths were described. In addition, the article focuses on technological challenges (regarding PV cells, modules, components, power conversion and monitoring and management system, optimizers, batteries, and other energy storage systems), grid efficiency, recycling, production costs, subsidies, public awareness and education, and the energy exclusion problem. The main result of the research is the roadmap of the photovoltaic solar energy technology and market development in Poland. Further development of the PV market and technology requires parallel progress in all the identified areas. This study offers implications for policymakers, investors, managers, and technology and infrastructure developers regarding their involvement in photovoltaic market.

Development of solar photovoltaic industry and market in China, Germany, Japan and the United States of America using incentive policies

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology has developed rapidly in the past decades and is essential in electricity generation. In this study, we demonstrate the relationship between PV incentive policies, technology innovation and market development in China, Germany, Japan and the United States of America (USA) by conducting a statistical data survey and systematic literature review. This article investigates the key policies affecting the development of PV technology from the perspective of solar PV Research and Development (R&D), industry, and market development. Our study highlights how these different kinds of policies drive the countries to change their role on the global stage. The results show the performance of supply-push policies and demand-pull policies during different periods and their significant impact on PV development, while it presenting future challenges and recommendations for PV development. Our study contributes to improve the understanding of PV technology innovation, its market development, and policy evolution through a multiple-perspective analysis of PV development processes.

Breaking into the photovoltaic energy transition for rural and remote communities: challenging the impact of awareness norms and subsidy schemes

The energy poverty cycle remains a twofold barrier as part of energy transitions. Nations must support the provision of affordable and reliable power and concurrently address nationally agreed carbon reduction targets. Decentralised solar photovoltaic (PV) is a viable option to achieve universal energy access in rural areas, while it concurrently decarbonises energy generation, but often remains in tension with traditional centralised generation and distribution systems. Lack of awareness of PV technologies is seen as one of the major barriers limiting the deployment of decentralised systems in rural areas. This study explores awareness of PV systems drawing from over 700 household semi-structured surveys within Uttar Pradesh, India. We found existing awareness-raising campaigns, and subsidies for promoting PV technologies in rural areas are not effective with households preferring word of mouth, experiential learning and village-level awareness programmes than conventional electronic and print media advertising, as preferred by the government and private sectors. This lack of awareness also extends to subsidies for solar PV otherwise used to support this technology deployment and transition. We suggest locally organised and locally delivered targeted campaigns covering product knowledge, functionality and information on financing provisions for procuring solar PV system including how this relates to subsidies could be more effective to promote solar PV in the rural market. As public awareness precedes solar PV adoption, these findings can be insightful for policymakers, investors and the private enterprises to improve existing informational programmes and devise effective campaigns supporting the demand and therefore development of rural solar PV market.

An Overview about the Brazilian Photovoltaic Market Development

There are five main institutions that develop research and provide data regarding photovoltaic energy generation in Brazil, they are: Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL); Energy Research Office (EPE); International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); Institute for the Development of Alternative Energies in Latin America (IDEAL); and Greener (a research and consultancy company specialized in the photovoltaic solar energy sector). The reports provided by these institutions present a large volume of data and information, this factor makes hard task of understanding the Brazilian photovoltaic market. Therefore, this paper purposes to present an overview about the development of photovoltaic generation in Brazil, through of an unpublished compilation and analysis of the data provided by the institutions previously cited. For this, initially the factors that contributed to the implementation and expansion of this sector are presented. Following, it is presented the main resolutions for the implementation of distributed generation, as well as organizations responsible for the standardization, operation, testing and expected requirements for connection of renewable sources in the electrical system. Quantitative data about energy installed, number of installations approvals, distribution of installations by sector of society, number homologations by power range and cost distribution for the implementation of these systems are provided. Finally, the incentive policies, credit lines and future perspectives for the development of the photovoltaic sector in Brazil are presented.

Assessing the impact of R&D policy on PV market development: The case of South Korea

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to examine the Korean photovoltaic (PV) R&D strategy and its effectiveness in helping Korean manufacturer competitiveness. The article reviewed the Korean government's PV R&D funding from 2008 to 2017 and investigated the technology readiness levels of 298 R&D projects funded by the Korean government during the same period. It is found that the Korean government followed a two‐track approach of nurturing commercialization technology to cope with rapid growth and volatility in the current global market. The effects of government support for market‐ready and next‐generation technologies in order to position the country in today's competition and to prepare it for “first mover” opportunities in emerging markets are considered. During 2008–2017, Korean manufacturers maintained a 7% of market share. Module prices, which were more than USD 6 per watt in 2000, fell to less than USD 1 in 2017. From a technical point of view, silicon‐based modules have achieved world‐class status in their efficiency. Performance of the country's nonsilicon technologies reached nearly 90% of the world's best nonsilicon products in the early 2010s, but recently, next‐generation technology development is lagging. Despite Korean PV industry's achievements, it is unclear whether Korean government PV R&D strategy affected competitiveness. Since 2013, the Korean government has sharply cut PV R&D funding. Early growth may have been affected by government support, but recent growth may be driven by corporate strategies. A significantly higher level of R&D funding may be needed for Korea's next‐generation technologies to capture “first mover” status.This article is categorized under: Energy and Climate > Economics and Policy Photovoltaics > Economics and Policy Energy Policy and Planning > Economics and Policy

Development of An Innovation Diffusion Model for Renewable Energy Deployment

Investment in renewable energy, such as building photovoltaic (PV), has higher volatility than normal products due to uncertain product performance and such high uncertainties become the roadblock to the growth of renewable energy market. Previous studies focus on diffusion of innovation from macro aspect but ignore the managerial flexibility of individual’s investment. This paper established a novel diffusion model that integrates agent-based modelling (ABM), real option and social networks to assess the propagation of renewable energy adoption. The proposed model incorporates the heterogeneity of individuals’ risk preferences into real option decision to determine one’s willingness to invest renewable energy. The perceptual risks vary through one’s interaction with network peers after knowing the past experiences from those peers. The model is then applied to the residential PV diffusion in Singapore, with results that validate the effectiveness of the model and also imply policy recommendations to stimulate the development of PV market.

Study on the mutual influence between enterprises: A complex network perspective of China's PV enterprises

With the economic integration of the world, the correlation between enterprises does not only include their cooperative and competitive relationships but also involves their mutual relationship in the market. In this paper, a new index, with considering cooperative, competitive as well as market relationships, is proposed to quantify the mutual influence between any two enterprises. Then, the influence index threshold network is built from a new perspective of complex network theory. Focusing on the empirical research by taking China's photovoltaic (PV) industry as an example, the leading enterprises are identified by their k-shell decomposition analysis in conjunction with their nodal degree. In addition, the reasons for some belong to the leading enterprises are explained using random matrix theory. The results show that leading enterprises with core technologies producing basic products, having complete industrial chain, and owning brand products are likely to have prominent positions during the fierce competition. Finally, some suggestions are made to promote the sustainable development of China's PV market.

Photovoltaics: An Initiative Step towards Sustainable Technology

The energy crisis is appearing as a grave problem the whole world is facing today. The challenge is to refine the renewable technologies to make them competitive with traditional energy sources. The paper mainly focuses on the recent trends in Photovoltaic Technology and photovoltaic market development in brief. Recent trends adopted in photovoltaics offers a key solution to deliver a sustainable, secure, reliable and long term supply of energy at efficient rate and affordable cost to the livelihood. The fast growing photovoltaic technology has currently acquired a position to lead the worldwide challenge and also has boosted the opportunities in industrial sector. The remarkable growth of the photovoltaic sector in recent years provides a clear justification for this publication. Also, the paper will give insight to the basics of photovoltaics.

Economic analysis of different supporting policies for the production of electrical energy by solar photovoltaics in eastern European Union countries

Today, photovoltaic (PV) attracts considerable interest in relation to renewable energy technologies, because of its potential to contribute significantly to the future of renewable energy. However, PV market development is related strongly to the support policies introduced by national governments, defined in national laws. The modification or fading out of such incentive schemes can strongly influence the development of the PV market in any given country. In this paper, after a brief review of national support policies in PV technology in eastern European Union (EU) countries, the authors perform an economic analysis of the main support mechanisms that are implemented in these countries. The comparative analysis is based on the calculation of the cash flow, the Net Present Value (NPV) and the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) indices. The analysis shows that in some situations, support policies can be inconvenient for the owner of the PV system and that, in many cases, the differences between the implementation of the same support policy in different countries, can give rise to significantly different results.

A grid-interactive photovoltaic uninterruptible power supply system using battery storage and a back up diesel generator

This paper presents a practical implementation of a grid interactive photovoltaic uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system using battery storage and a back up diesel generator. The system incorporates 2.5 kWp of photovoltaic arrays, a 10 kVA power conditioning unit capable of operating in both inverting and charging modes, and a 300-Ah battery bank. Two such systems were installed in two Indian cities. The project was implemented using soft loans available in India through a World Bank Loan for photovoltaic market development. The system has been working satisfactorily since May 1997 and has demonstrated the capability of the system to provide uninterrupted power, demand side management function and load voltage stabilization in a grid which experiences frequent blackouts and under/over voltage problems. Some results from the field installation are also included in this paper.

Accelerating sustainable photovoltaic market development

The Asia Alternative Energy Program (ASTAE) is a World Bank-donor initiative to support renewable energy and end energy efficiency investments in Asia. This article summarizes ASTAE's review of Solar Home System program experience in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic. Successful photovoltaic (PV) market development for rural electrification requires removal of financial and institutional barriers. The authors emphasize the need to overcome the initial cost barrier of Solar Home Systems, establish responsive and sustainable infrastructure and ensure quality products and services. This article also identifies the economic niche for PV use in comparison to traditional options, such as kerosene lanterns and extension of the grid. Major obstacles to the diffusion of off-grid electrication via PV are discussed, along with recommended solutions and best practices. The authors have sought to apply these recommendations in design of the World Bank-assisted Sri Lanka Energy Services Delivery Project and the Solar Home Systems Project in Indonesia. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.