Next year, global PV equipment spending will fall by more than 45%

On October 19th, the latest quarterly report released by international photovoltaic research organization Solarbuzz pointed out that following the global solar equipment spending reaching a historic high of US$13.1 billion this year, it is expected to have a decline of more than 45% in 2012, which will force the supply of solar energy equipment. Businesses readjust their product plans.

Solarbuzz senior analyst Finlay Colville said that the desire of second- and third-tier solar cell suppliers to quickly enter the market or increase market share is the main reason for the expansion of equipment spending in 2011. The Solarbuzz report points out that nearly half of solar equipment spending in 2011 was generated by new solar manufacturers or second-tier and third-tier manufacturers in order to increase their production capacity. Most of these investments may become excess capacity.

Data statistics show that from the third quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2011, solar equipment spending continued to climb, with a few percentage points of decline in the second and third quarters of this year.

Solarbuzz expects that solar manufacturers will continue to experience double-digit declines in revenue from the fourth quarter of this year to the second quarter of 2012 due to concerns about the imbalance between supply and demand in 2012.