Disruptive Technologies Are Shaping the Future of the Global Solar Market

Innova Research assesses the disruptive solar technologies, such as CIGS, CZTS, CPV and OPV, among others. What are the likely winning solar technologies in photovoltaic industry by 2020?

Solar photovoltaic companies, beset by global market recession and turbulent shakeout over the past few years, have been gradually picking up profit margins and increasing their R&D spending, and many of them are expanding their businesses by robust technology scouting, corporate venturing, and/or M&A activities. On the other hand, disruptive solar technologies are growing rapidly in the past few years. While Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) thin-film cells went beyond GW-capacity earlier along with the rapid growth of the market heavyweight, First Solar, copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) cells also hit the GW mark with the fast expansion of Hanergy. In the meantime, other disruptive solar technologies, including but not limited to copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS), concentrated PV (CPV), organic PV (OPV), and organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells, have chances to become game changers by 2020.

Innova Research will soon publish a report, entitled “Chasing the Sun: Searching for Game Changers in Disruptive Photovoltaic Technologies”, in which, over 13,000 patents and 500 historical M&A and other technology partnerships made by the key players in the global solar market are analyzed to find the most promising solar technologies. These disruptive solar technologies are further evaluated on their major features, including easy to scale, future module efficiency gains, and the potential to reduce capital and materials costs, and based on these, the likely winning solar technologies by 2020 will be recommended.

Nancy Wu, Research Director of Innova Research and the lead author of the report, commented “Vertically integrations in the solar industry value chain and the downstream capital operations greatly help solar incumbents to improve their cash flows, thus make the breakthrough of the disruptive solar technologies and the relevant material innovations possible. On the other hand, a rapid technology evolution and industry consolidation will provide vast opportunities to global solar players and new comers that are seeking opportunities to enter the solar market.” 

About Innova Research

Innova Research is a market research and consulting firm focusing on emerging technologies. With the combination of both technology and market research experts, we offer world-class market and technology intelligences.  Driven by primary research, Innova Research’s market intelligence reports and consulting service help our clients to make right strategic and investment decisions in the fast-changing technology world.  Visit www.innovaresearchinc.com or contact [email protected] for more information.

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Tags: emerging technologies, forecast, M&As, Solar


About Innova Research

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Innova Research is a leading market research and consulting firm specializing in emerging technologies. With a keen focus on advanced materials, renewable energy and environmental technologies, advanced electronics, industry internet and robotics, energy storage, and more, Innova Research provides valuable market intelligence reports, technology scouting, and consulting services. With a team of industry experts and a commitment to delivering cutting-edge insights, Innova Research empowers marketing & strategy, corporate VC, corporate R&D, and VC clients to make informed decisions and thrive in the rapidly changing technology landscape, by leveraging primary research and in-depth analysis.