Over the past years, the global photovoltaic industry has experienced exceptional growth, creating a market environment where the overall supply could hardly keep up with constantly rising demand. However, the year 2008 saw the beginning of a new chapter, which brought substantial changes and new challenges.
In Europe, currently the world's biggest market by far, PV has left the maximum growth stage of the life cycle and entered into a phase of consolidation, characterized by lower growth rates and increased competitive intensity. The cause of this development is the revision of the promotional laws in Germany and Spain, ranked first and second among worldwide PV markets. At the same time, producers - encouraged by the former excess demand - are ramping up their production capacities at all production levels, some to as much as one GW. The question arises as to where these large production volumes are to find their sales markets.
The answer lies in the countries where the high PV potential has not yet led to significant market development. In the U.S., the extension of the Federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is likely to boost the solar market. In Asia, several countries have formulated ambitious PV capacity targets and more mature markets, such as Japan, are expected to be revived now that system prices are likely to decrease. Moreover, other underdeveloped PV markets in Australia, Africa as well as Middle and South America may finally enter the scene.
With the global PV market undergoing a phase of restructuring and the results of the global credit crisis still hard to foresee, comprehensive business and market intelligence becomes even more important and information constitutes a decisive competitive resource.
In view of these developments, the following questions arise:
What can your company do to ensure a steady growth?
Which country markets constitute an option for your company apart from all the conventional ones
inside of Europe?
In which markets could your company secure first-mover effects?
What would be the perfect communication strategy for these markets?
Do you have the right products for these markets?
Do you have the right business partners?
Are your prices optimally adjusted to the different country markets?
Which services are demanded by your clients? Or do they only care about the price?
