Solar photovoltaic in perspective

The ongoing economic crisis and regulatory changes in several countries, such as Italy and Germany, continue to cause problems for the global solar photovoltaic (PV) market.

2012 was an especially difficult year for the solar industry as countries tried to protect their PV module manufacturing industries, which led to the introduction of protectionist measures such as anti-dumping regulations against the Chinese PV industry.

The worldwide newly installed PV power capacity reached 28GW in 2012, similar to 2011 (27GW). Europe was again the predominant market in the PV sector that year with 17GW of new installed capacity; comprising roughly 60% of the total newly installed worldwide capacity in 2012. The next largest market was Asia with 7GW, slightly less than half of the European figure. North America followed with 3GW, and finally Oceania contributed 0.8GW.

Summary of the global PV