Market research firm, IHS has produced its latest top 10 rankings list of PV module manufacturers for the first-half of 2013, which show Chinese firms continue to gain market share, while major US-based firms are not keeping pace.
Unsurprisingly, Yingli Green Energy is still leading the pact, based on IHS’ analysis of merchant module shipments, garnering 8.1% global market share, up from 7.3% in the same period a year ago.
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The company shipped 1,450MW, according to IHS in the first half of 2013, fuelled by domestic Chinese demand, which is set to increase in the second-half of the year, IHS said. Shipments surged by 29.9% compared 1,110MW shipped by Yingli Green during the same period in 2012.
“Yingli in the first half of 2013 benefited from strong growth in demand in China,” said Jessica Jin, solar analyst at IHS. “China already accounts for almost one-third of the company’s business, and its importance will increase further in the second half and beyond.”
However, the fastest growing supplier is reported to be ReneSola, which is ranked 8th. The company shipped 570MW in the first-half of the year, more than triple the figure in the first six months of 2013.
“Renesola is sold out for 2013 and is already pre-selling its 2014 production,” Jin noted.
Also on a march are three Japanese firms, Sharp, Kyocera and Solar Frontier. IHS noted that 4th ranked Sharp’s market share increased to 4.4%, up from 2.7% in the same period last year, while Kyocera, the second-largest Japanese module supplier, managed to increase its share to 3.6%, up from 2.1%.
Japan’s third-biggest player, CIS thin-film leader Solar Frontier climbed to 11th place, up from 14th place during the same period in 2012, after a 68% surge in sales, according to IHS.
Laggards
Although by revenue, still the market leader in PVEP terms, First module sales were said to ‘suffering’ due to a weak second quarter, causing its first-half market share to decline to 5%, down from 5.7% in the first-half of 2012.
SunPower ranked 9th had merchant shipments increase by 14% in the first half of 2013, yet lagged the average of 17%.
As PV Tech has previously pointed out, SunPower is also capacity constraint compared with several leading Chinese producers, which could lead to further market share losses in the second-half of the year.
This is also the problem for REC, the only Top 10 module supplier of 2012 headquartered in Europe. According to IHS, REC shipments were stable at about 410MW in the first half of the year and dropped from being ranked 9th in 2012 to 13th so far this year.
