PV-making equipment to be $9B-market by 2013

The world market for photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing equipment is projected to exceed $9 billion in 2013, up from more than $5 billion in 2008, according to IMS Research. Asia, China in particular, is expected to be a key growth driver, accounting for over half of PV manufacturing equipment revenues through to 2013.

Suppliers of PV manufacturing equipment largely see the market moving to Asia in the near future. Minimizing labor cost is a key goal; and relocating equipment production to Asia is an obvious way to achieve this. Further, since PV manufacturing equipment users are increasingly based in Asia, this will also help to reduce shipping costs.

One of the top priorities of PV equipment end users is maximizing the "cost/watt" of cells and modules. Equipment manufacturers taking advantage of lower Asia Pacific labor costs is one way to reduce overall equipment cost and increase equipment efficiency. Increasing factory automation is another.

Increasing automation of PV production processes is at the forefront of reducing cost and breakage, while increasing efficiency and throughput.

The automation component market for PV manufacturing equipment was estimated to be worth just over $450 million in 2008; it is projected to grow to over $1.2 billion in 2013. With the traditional industrial markets, such as automotive and machine tool production, currently bottoming out as the world recession continues to bite, the market for PV manufacturing equipment can be seen as a ray of light.