Japan's domestic PV-cell shipment hit 1,263 MW in Q2, up 7% year-on-year, the first growth in nine quarters, according to Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association (JPEA).
Statistics just released by JPEA show that affected by drastic decline in external demand, total Japanese PV-cell shipment, for the domestic market and export, in terms of volume of modules, slipped, for the ninth quarter in a row, by 2% year-on-year to 1,333 MW in Q2.
Overseas enterprises accounted for 42% of Q2 shipment, up two percentage points sequentially, with domestic/overseas production ratio standing at 33:67.
Domestically, shipment of residential PV cells dropped by 8% year-on-year to 246MW in Q2, when shipment of non-residential, or industrial-use, PV cells, such as for PV power stations, shot up by 10% to 1,008 MW, for 80% share.
Meanwhile, Q2 export of Japanese PV cells plunged by 62% year-on-year to 70MW.
Nikkei Shimbun reported, citing industry insider, that "The market has not bottomed out yet, as the environment is still rigorous." Since the inauguration of PV power purchase scheme FiT (Feed-in Tariffs) in 2012, PV power generation has been expanding by leaps and bounds in Japan. However, purchase price for industrial-use PV power has plummeted by 50% from 2012 level in 2017.
Major Japanese PV-cell suppliers include Sharp, Kyocera, Panasonic, Solar Frontier, a subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., and Mitsubishi.
(Photo courtesy of Jumanji Solar via Flickr CC2.0)