MUNICH, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of leading Chinese photovoltaic (PV) enterprises expect the global solar market to continue its rapid growth in 2019, noting that their order books are already filled for the rest of the year.
The PV enterprises are exhibiting their products at Intersolar Europe 2019, the largest annual fair for the industry, in Munich on May 15-17.
China's PV industry has by and large digested the country's decision last year to curb the growth of solar power capacity and cut subsidies, they told Xinhua on Wednesday.
"The European solar market is hot now, and the entire overseas solar market is expected to expand 20 percent this year, especially as the markets along Belt and Road route have been growing at a rate of 40 percent to 50 percent," said Eric Luo, chief executive officer of GCL System Integration Technology Co. Ltd, citing as an example Vietnam's recent entry into the "gigawatt-level market."
"Even with full capacity, we won't be able to complete our overseas orders until the end of this year. The share of our overseas sales is going to increase to about 80 percent this year, from an average 52 percent in the previous year," Luo added.
The booths of China's top PV manufacturers were all crowded with visitors.
Polaris Li, president of Jiangsu Seraphim Solar System Co. Ltd., said that southeast Asia and the whole European market are two bright spots in the global solar market. The order books for his company's dominant products are already filled until the end of 2019, he said.
According to the London-based data and technology provider IHS Markit, the combined output of new solar power systems installed in 2018 was around 100 gigawatts (GW), and the market's growth in 2019 is expected to exceed 120 GW -- all this in the teeth of China's subsidy cuts. This impressive growth is fueling a boom in production.
