The Blurred Facts: An Observation of the Current Taiwan's Solar Photovoltaic Market

The Blurred Facts: An Observation of the Current Taiwan's Solar Photovoltaic Market
For the past 2 years, Taiwan's solar energy market has seen no shortage of disruptions from external factors that deeply affected the scheduled grid connection of various large-scale projects. Things didn’t go smoothly in 2023, either. The election campaigns hindered both the applications of large-scale ground-mounted projects and even the relatively simpler rooftop PV systems, and market growth nearly stalled in the second half of 2023. Except for some large-scale projects scheduled to be completed due to the grid connection contracts, the dates of grid connections for numerous investors' projects were all deferred from 2022 to 2023. For most operators, fewer grid connections were completed than in 2022, which was intriguing since the announced annual installations seemed to have reached a record high.
From an overall perspective, the development of Taiwan's PV market has entered the so-called moderate stage in recent years, and there is no more explosive growth like in 2018. With the government-led flagship large-scale projects starting in 2016 and gradually connected in 2018, significant progress has been made in the PV market, attracting plenty of green-collar talents to join the industry. However, since 2020, the PV industry has been facing headwinds after the prohibition of converting agricultural land below two hectares for ground-mounted PV projects. Although the number of announced installations has marked significant increases each year, the actual development of the PV market has slowed down since then, especially from 2022 to 2023. The successive election campaigns for local and central governments extended the average project application process time to nearly over 55 months. Most projects that completed grid connections in the past two years had been postponed multiple times, while the number of new projects is also decreasing. Looking ahead to 2025, there will be only an insignificant amount of large-scale projects.
Status regarding PV investors and EPC ranking Taiwan
In 2023, Chailease still ranked top among all PV system investors in Taiwan. The ground-mounted projects they planned in early hands finally completed grid connection. After years of dedication, AUO finally rose to second place, a hard-won honor thanks to the successful grid connections of several flagship projects. The third place was granted to the internationally-funded Hexa which made its debut on the top-ten list, mainly because the tender project in the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park was completed on schedule, a notable achievement. Many investors are making their first appearances on the top-ten list in 2023, including Santi, Da Chuang, and SunnyRich, all of which have long been cultivating fishery and electricity symbiosis projects that completed grid connection in 2023.
In 2023, the throne of leading PV EPC in Taiwan was claimed by AUO, while Y Solar, Power Master, and AcmePointes are all familiar faces on this list with proven records. The most unique highlight of this list is SolarGarden, which finally made its debut on the EPC list after long years of dedication, and its potential should not be underestimated.
Looking ahead to 2024, with the external disadvantageous factors remaining, developments overshadowed by the uncertainty of environmental impact assessments and the Spatial Planning Act, and increasing public concerns for PV projects increasing the difficulty of review, large-scale projects are facing unprecedented hardships. Despite the constant high demand for green energy, it is still challenging to substantially promote the actual supply of solar photovoltaic energy.
The Inverter Market: Small Players Making Big Contributions
After the intricate changes in the market, the 2023 ranking of inverters has been slightly shifted. Leading inverter suppliers used to benefit from large-scale projects, but now they have begun to face delivery delays arising from various impending issues pm project progress. This situation may become the new norm gradually. As for the module market which the public is more familiar with, TSEC has secured first place in shipments for two consecutive years.
PrimeVolt was still Taiwan’s No. 1 inverter supplier in 2023, with its success coming from accumulated experiences in serving S&M businesses for years, instead of being bolstered by large-scale projects. Also with the support from S&M businesses, Allis made a comeback on the list at fifth place.
The progress of PV projects was severely delayed due to election campaigns, but no less hindrance is also happening in 2024. In the middle of Q2, more inverter manufacturers have been gearing up, hoping that the shipment peak can be seen later this year.
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