According to a new market report, the floating solar panel market has been valued at 1.5bn US$ in 2016, and is expected to grow to 1.58bn US$ by 2022, increasing at a CAGR of 113.9% between 2016 and 2022.
Market Insights:
Photovoltaic panels are known to be an eco-friendly source of energy based on power generation technology. However, as they provide us with huge benefits, they do have drawback as they occupy large land areas. Many countries worldwide do not have sufficient free-land areas therefore solar PV systems cannot be installed in those countries. This drawback was addressed by introducing floating solar panels to the market worldwide. These floating solar panels can be installed upon lakes, ponds, reservoir and rivers among other water bodies. These floating solar panels have many benefits over land-mounted solar panels which include evaporation control and increased efficiency. These solar panels work efficiently at low temperature and hence have increased efficiency due to cooling effect of water.
On the basis of product type, the floating solar panels market is segmented into stationary floating solar panels and solar-tracking floating panels. Among these, stationary floating solar panels dominated the global floating solar panels market worldwide. These floating panels have number of advantages over solar tracking panels in the market. These panels make use of water surface for the process of installation of solar panels. Asia Pacific is the largest consumer of floating solar panels in the market. Solar tracking floating panel however occupy huge land space which is not available in some of the countries worldwide. In addition, high investment and low efficiency is another factor leading to steady demand for solar tracking floating panels in the market. A number of benefits provided by stationary floating solar panels over solar tracking floating panels have led to growth of global floating solar panels market globally.
Competitive Insights:
Floating solar panels, on the basis of location are segmented into off-shore and on-shore floating solar panels. Off-shore floating solar panels accounted for the larger share of the global floating solar panels market. Presence of large water bodies worldwide has caused a boom for the growth of stationary floating solar panels. As these panels have high efficiency of power generation, stationary floating solar panels are in high demand as off-shore floating solar panels in the market. On-shore floating solar panels are expected to experience steady demand due to limited land available for its installation. Asia Pacific dominated the global floating solar panels market. Stringent regulations and government investment are the major factors driving the growth of global floating solar panels in the region. North America followed Asia Pacific in terms of growth and use of floating solar panels in the global market. Other regions such as Europe, Middle East and Africa and Rest of the World are also expected to boost market growth of floating solar panels in the market during the forecast period from 2016 to 2022.
Key Trends:
• High demand from Asia Pacific
• Cost efficient
• High power generation
• Opportunities from increase in research and development activities
