Taiwan PV firms reluctant to invest in Australia

According to EnergyTrend, a research arm of TrendForce, many Taiwan manufacturers have come to understand the latest investment trends in the Australian PV market. The market analytics firm added that although industries are attracted in the overseas PV market, plans are still on paper due to the policy and environmental factors.

Australia is a place with good natural conditions for the development of solar energy, and Northern Australia is among other areas the most suitable for PV development. However, since southeast and southwest are the main electricity consumption areas, electricity transmission and distribution becomes a huge obstacle to the development of renewable energy in Australia. In addition, related policies have also hindered the investment of overseas industries. It is said that Australia's goal for renewable energy is 20GW/2020, which means that since they have already installed 11GW, until 2020, only 9GW is left for the market.

Taiwan manufacturers are reluctant to invest in this business due to the continually reduced subsidy and prolonged payback period. Related industries indicated that already common among Taiwan industries, the downstream market expansion is the main reason for the fierce competition in the Taiwan market. The main problems in the overseas market, however, are still financial issues involving local law, financial planning, international finance and risk management. Huge capitals are involved in the overseas business, and funds are often taken up by only a few projects. Moreover, since Taiwan manufacturers seldom expand business to the overseas market, they may feel powerless when bidding on projects, and the overseas market expansion may thus be delayed.

Though price has continued to increase in the spot market, price increase in several products has slowed down.