June 20, 2012 (Investorideas.com renewable energy newswire) According to EnergyTrend, a research division of TrendForce, affected by economic instability in the eurozone, some European power plant investments have not progressed on schedule. Furthermore, Q3 order expectations were initially high, but prospects have changed after the conclusion of the Intersolar Europe exhibition. Although there have not been significant alterations to orders with Taiwanese manufacturers, and suppliers indicate all capacity is booked at the moment, whether orders will ship as scheduled is dependent on the market status in Q3. Regardless, some manufacturers indicate order volume fell below expectation, and the Q3 outlook remains uncertain. Downstream module prices continue to fluctuate, but wafer and solar cell prices remain on a slight uptrend, although the increase is slowing. It remains to be seen whether the fluctuations will continue in the short term.
Source: EnergyTrend
In other news, the future development of the Asia PV market was a highlight of the recently concluded Intersolar Europe exhibition. With government support, a clear picture has emerged regarding the future of the Chinese and Japanese PV markets - prospects for the solar markets in Southeast Asia and India, on the other hand, are still uncertain. Both upstream and downstream vendors are seeking opportunities for cooperation, none more proactively than Chinese manufacturers. However, there remains a marked difference between upstream and downstream makers. Upstream suppliers continue to face severe competition, and manufacturers indicate that only those able to survive this round of competition will live to see brighter days in the PV industry.
As for this week's price trends, figures were not as expected despite the increase in European orders. TrendForce believes this is due to worldwide markets continuing to monitor European capital market developments, and has caused the delay in power plant investments, in turn weakening demand. Furthermore, wafer and solar cell prices will continue to recover in the short term, but improving efficiency remains the key to price increases. Looking further ahead, however, the industry will remain in a state of oversupply, and manufacturers will still face pressure to lower prices as the industry continues to see subsidy cuts.
This week's polysilicon prices mostly fell within the US$20-22/kg range, while average price fell to US$21.415/kg, representing a 0.61% decrease. As for silicon wafers, due to both sufficient demand and the impact from the U.S. anti-dumping and anti-countervailing rulings, multi-Si wafer price continued on a slight uptrend, with an average of US$1.071/piece, an increase of 0.47%. Mono-Si wafer transactions were concentrated in the European market - affected by the euro exchange rate, average price dropped to US$1.51/piece, a decline of 0.26%. Solar cells continued to benefit from the peak season and rush orders - Taiwanese prices rose steadily, while Chinese prices have stabilized. This week's average solar cell price increased 0.87% to US$0.466/Watt. Module price climbed slightly as well, arriving at US$0.747/Watt, a 0.13% increase. However, TrendForce believes there will not be a significant rebound in the short term, and module price will remain low.
TRENDFORCE is a global leading research institution providing market intelligence, in-depth analysis reports and consultant services on technology sector. Our company consists of 4 major research divisions---DRAMeXchange, WitsView, LEDinside and EnergyTrend which cover the DRAM, NAND Flash, PC, display, LED and Green energy research sectors respectively. www.trendforce.com
More Info:
This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire and its syndicated partner network
News now!
Get Free investor news and stock alerts:
Sign up here
Disclaimer: The following news is paid for and /or published as information only for our readers.Investorideas.com is a third party publisher of news and research. Our sites do not make recommendations, but offer information portals to research news, articles, stock lists and recent research. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All Investment involves risk and possible loss of all investment. Disclaimer in full, Investorideas.com Disclosure Please read individual disclosures for featured stocks.
BC Residents and Investor Disclaimer: Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info
