NPD Solarbuzz's latest report on emerging solar markets Asia Pacific and Central Asia is expected to exceed 3GW of solar power generation by 2017, a very strong growth rate of 28% compared to 723MW in 2012.

"In the past, solar applications in Asia Pacific and Central Asia were mainly focused on solar lighting and homes." "But future solar demand will come from the widespread use of large ground power plants. By 2017, ground-based installations will account for 64% of total solar power generation in Asia Pacific and Central Asia. ”

Solar demand in Asia Pacific and Central Asia remains highly fragmented and similar to other emerging solar markets, with diverse policies and various end market drivers. Since Southeast Asia is widely regarded as the central hub of upstream manufacturing in the solar industry, policymakers have a deeper understanding of solar power generation, so they also draw on the mature experience of policy development in the European photovoltaic market in the process of policy formulation.

The demand for solar energy in the Asia-Pacific and Central Asia regions mainly comes from Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Taiwan. In 2013~2017, the solar demand in these five countries is expected to account for 50% of the total demand.

Thailand is expected to be the largest single market in the region, driven by rapid growth in electricity demand and fiscal pressures to reduce energy imports.

Indonesia has a long-term solar power generation plan, which is expected to increase solar power generation to 0.3% of energy by 2025, which is about 1GW of new solar demand; With the upcoming feed-in tariff, Indonesia will become the second largest solar market in Southeast Asia by 2017; Taiwan and South Korea have also prioritized solar power as a priority for renewable energy targets.

In the coming years, more countries in the Asia-Pacific and Central Asian region will see an increase in demand for solar energy. The Philippines announced more than 500MW of cumulative solar energy installations at the end of 2012, mainly from strong investment from Japan and South Korea; Bangladesh is already the world's largest off-grid solar market and plans to install one million new solar power systems by the end of 2016. Kazakhstan plans to install 77MW of solar power plants in the next few years; Pakistan has also announced that 500MW of solar power will be deployed.

"While securing adequate financing for solar projects remains a challenge, overall solar demand in Asia Pacific and Central Asia is expected to account for 5% of global demand in 2017, reaching 5GW." Han Qiming added.

(Source: Internet)