According to the Global Solar PV Market Outlook Update: Q2 2019 by Wood Mackenzie , the expansion of photovoltaics is once again on a growth trend following a slowdown in 2018. The consultancy company is expecting an increase of 17.5% in 2019 compared to 2018 – which will mean the newly installed photovoltaics power will reach a new record of 114.5 GW. “In spite of a gradual slowdown in China, the largest PV market in the world, worldwide growth will continue,” explains Tom Heggarty, Senior Research Analyst at Wood Mackenzie. The Chinese market reached its pinnacle in 2017 with 53 GW due to high feed-in remuneration; annual growth of only 30 to 40 GW can now be expected in that country.

Wood Mackenzie claims, however, that this decline is being more than compensated for by expansion in other countries. According to the analysis, the markets will be driven above all by those countries that install between 1 and 5 GW annually. Their number is expected to increase from seven in 2018 to 19 in 2022; France, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan are amongst those that will fall into this category for the first time. Wood Mackenzie expects an increase in annual installations of around 125 GW in the early years of the 2020s.