APPA warns of a bubble in the PV industry

APPA has denounced that several industry players -happy with the unreal expectations that unprecise developers have arisen- are triggering a speculative bubble that should be corrected with administrative measures and a good dose of professional ethics promoted from industry associations.

At the moment, APPA calculates that applications for future grid connections for PV projects add up to more than 6,000 MW, while technology, according to data from the Comisión Nacional de la Energía (National Energy Commission), allowed to close 2005 with 38 MW connected to the grid.

A silicon crisis and unlikely projects
To make things worse between the presented and executed projects, there is scarcity or solar grade silicon at global level and it is impossible to solve the situation in the short term, since the type of silicon that the PV cells manufacturers is a subproduct of the microelectronic industry.

“Unfortunately, there is no production plant dedicated to solar activities yet, although several -all of them abroad- will be inaugurated in the coming years" saye APPA representatives. The association believes that, notwithstanding, the situation improves in the coming years.

“With these conditions, PV panel manufacturers have their production already asigned for several years and it is impossible for them to meet the demand" they added. This is the reason why APPA is warning on the fact that it is not likely that panel availability can meet the amount of applications submitted. “Even worse when we see unlikely initiatives, such as solar plantations with more than 100 MW of capacity, promoted by spare and wrongly informed capitals or, even, by pirats that only want to cheat little caucious investors”.

Need for guarantees
APPA considers that the introduction of guarantees backing solar PV projects, such as it has been done with the combined cycles and wind power, would filter real initiatives from unreal ones, and will discourage all those investors that are not technically capable or do not have the necessary resources to carry out the projects.

The 2005-2010 renewable energy plan sets the objective of 400 MW
APPA believes that reaching such goal is possible, since the silicon scarcity will not necessarily affect the process, as long as the current retribution mechanisms are kept..

However, APPA concluded, "the PV bubble can spoil the development of this inmense potential technology in Spain. Since it is an immature market, it needs seriousness and a professional attitude provided by industry associations".

For additional information:
www.appa.es

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APPA warns of a bubble in the PV industry