Overview

Despite a sluggish U.S. economy in 2010, the U.S. photovoltaic (PV) industry saw strong growth. Total shipments of PV modules in 2010 more than doubled compared to total module shipments in 2009, rising from nearly 1.2 peak gigawatts (GWdc¹ peak) to more than 2.6 peak gigawatts (Figure 1). This surge in growth was supported in part by rapid declines in the price of PV cells and modules (Figure 2), and by government incentives and policies at the Federal, state and local levels.

As a consequence of this strong growth, favorable business opportunities emerged for companies to expand or enter into the PV market. In 2010, there were 112 active PV manufacturers, importers and exporters that shipped PV cells and modules (Table 1). This marks an increase of nearly 11 percent from the 101 companies doing business in 2009.

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Industry status

The PV module market continues to be a very dynamic and competitive market. Many of the companies reporting PV shipments in 2010 also reported being involved in one or more of the following photovoltaic-related activities (Table 1):

• 57 companies were involved in module and/or cell manufacturing.
• 60 designed modules or systems.
• 38 developed prototype modules.
• 21 developed prototype systems.
• 61 were involved in wholesale distribution.
• 26 were involved in retail distribution.
• 29 installed PV systems.

In addition, several manufacturers are planning to introduce new photovoltaic-related technical products in the next calendar year (Table 1):

• 24 plan to introduce new single-crystal silicon modules.
• 14 plan to introduce new cast silicon modules.
• 13 plan to introduce new thin-film modules.
• 8 plan to introduce new concentrator photovoltaic modules.

Employment in PV-related activities increased more than 21 percent, from 14,443 full-time equivalent (FTE)² employees in 2009 to 17,487 FTE in 2010. Of the 112 companies, 83 had 90 percent or more of their companywide revenues in PV-related activities, 8 had 50 to 89 percent, 6 had 10 to 49 percent, and 15 had less than 10 percent (Table 1).

Value, average price, and average efficiency

In 2010, the value of photovoltaic cell shipments totaled nearly $1.2 billion and the value of photovoltaic module shipments reached nearly $5.2 billon (Table 2). Value includes charges for cooperative advertising and warranties, but does not include excise taxes and the cost of freight or transportation.

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Average prices of photovoltaic cells and /modules per peak watt of capacity shipped have declined steady over the past three years due, in part, to government incentives and market competition. For photovoltaic cells, the average price has decreased almost 11 percent, from $1.27 in 2009 to $1.13 in 2010, and the average price of photovoltaic modules fell nearly 30 percent, from $2.79 in 2009 to $1.96 in 2010 (Figure 2).

The performance of a photovoltaic module is typically measured in terms of its energy conversion efficiency, i.e., the percentage of incident solar energy (input) that the module converts to electricity (output) under standard rating conditions. In 2010, the average energy conversion efficiencies were as follows (Table 2):

• 16 percent for Crystalline Silicon PV module.
• 11 percent for Thin-film PV module.
• 27 percent for Concentrator PV module.

U.S. manufactured

In 2010, 1,066,867 peak kilowatts of PV modules were manufactured in the United States. Manufacturers in California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee produced more than 82 percent of the domestically manufactured PV modules (Table 5). Crystalline silicon accounted for more than 59 percent of the annual domestically manufactured PV modules, followed by thin-film modules with nearly 40 percent. Together, crystalline silicon and thin-film accounted for more than 99 percent of all PV manufacturing.

Imports

Imports of PV modules shipments totaled 1,734,149 peak kilowatts in 2010. The predominant type of import shipment was crystalline silicon modules, accounting for more than 93.5 percent (1,622,315 peak kilowatts) of total imports. China, Philippines, and the Mexico accounted for about than 88 percent of total imports (Table 6), respectively 46 percent, 31 percent, and 11 percent.

Exports

Exports of PV module shipments totaled 976,955 peak kilowatts in 2010, accounting for about 37 percent of total shipments, or approximately 56 percent of PV module imports.  The predominant type of export shipment was crystalline silicon modules, accounting for nearly 73 percent (710,007 peak kilowatts) of total exports. The export market was dominated by sales to Germany, Italy, and Canada (Table 7), respectively 34 percent, 27 percent, and 11 percent.

U.S. shipments

Shipment by geography

U.S. PV module shipments totaled 1,667,543 peak kilowatts in 2010. The shipments went to all 50 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands (Table 8).

Nearly 70 percent of U.S. PV module shipments (1,163,992 peak kilowatts) went to five States (in order of decreasing volume): California, New Jersey, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado. More than 54 percent (903,705 peak kilowatts) of domestic shipments went to California (39 percent) and New Jersey (15 percent).

Shipments by sector

U.S. PV module shipments to the commercial sector in 2010 accounted for 908,224 peak kilowatts, slightly more than 54 percent of the domestic market. Of the domestic shipments to the commercial sector, approximately 94 percent was crystalline silicon, about 6.2 percent was thin-film PV, and less than 0.3 percent was concentrator PV (Table 9).

The residential sector was the second-largest domestic market in 2010, accounting for 467,165 peak kilowatts, or 28 percent of the domestic market share. About 92 percent of its shipments was crystalline silicon and more than 7 percent was thin-film.

Shipments to the electric power sector amounted to 243,947 peak kilowatts, or nearly 15 percent of the domestic market share. Crystalline silicon accounted for more than 31 percent of the electric power shipments, thin-film accounted for nearly 67 percent, and concentrator accounted for 0.2 percent.

The industrial sector, with less than 3 percent of domestic shipments, was the smallest domestic sales market, totaling 48,208 peak kilowatts. Nearly 98 percent of the shipments was crystalline silicon, about 0.1 percent was thin-film, and just over 2 percent was concentrator.

Shipments by grid or off-grid

U.S. PV module shipments to grid-connected distributed PV systems in 2010 accounted for 1,408,462 peak kilowatts, or more than 84 percent of the domestic market. Of the domestic shipments to grid-connected distributed PV systems, more than 93 percent was crystalline silicon, more than 6 percent was thin-film, and less than 0.3 percent was concentrator (Table 10).

U.S. PV module shipments to grid-connected centralized PV systems were the second-largest domestic market in 2010, accounting for 243,947 peak kilowatts, or close to 15 percent of the domestic market share. More than 31 percent of shipments was crystalline silicon, nearly 67 percent was thin-film, and less than 2 percent was concentrator.

PV module shipments to off-grid PV systems such as households and communities not connected to the utility grid amounted to 10,941 peak kilowatts, or less than 1 percent of the domestic market share. About 98 percent of total domestic shipments was crystalline silicon and 2 percent was thin-film.

Other off-grid PV systems such as water pumping, remote communications, safety and protection devices, at locations without the presence of the utility grid, accounted for less than 0.3 percent of domestic shipments. This was the smallest domestic end-use market, totaling 4,193 peak kilowatts. Nearly 74 percent was crystalline silicon and about 26 percent was thin-film.

Inventory

In 2010, U.S. inventories of PV module at yearend were 381,189 peak kilowatts. Ending inventories of U.S. PV modules in 2010 were almost 89 percent or 179,099 peak kilowatts higher than the year-end inventories of the previous year, which totaled 202,090 peak kilowatts (Table 4). The significant year-over-year increase in inventory level was in line with the growth in production and shipments.

 

Endnotes: 1 DC stands for direct current, the type of power output by photovoltaic cells and modules. All capacity values in this report are in DC terms. 2 Full-time equivalent is a unit measure of the number of employees on full-time schedules plus the number of employees on part-time schedules converted to a full-time basis.

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