A study On the Competitiveness of CPV in the Photovoltaic Industry

• Main Authors: Wang, Tai-Ene, 王台英
• Other Authors: Yang, Chyan
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/83945882432624163274

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 高階主管管理碩士學程 === 100 === In recent years, photovoltaic industry has made dramatic advancement in technology such as conversion efficiency as well as in production capacity, cost reduction, and supply chain. Furthermore, it has become one of the most favorable choices among various reused energy technologies as evidenced by the support and subsidization of many countries in the world. In photovoltaic (PV) industry’s technology consists of single-crystal and polycrystalline silicon, thin film , and CPV. The CPV technology is getting more and more attention because of its very high efficiency, cost reduction, and environmental friendly production. Moreover, the CPV technology most likely will not replace the other PV technologies but rather coexists with them in the market for applications in different environments. Therefore, CPV is expected to explosive growth in the near future as it advances rapidly in technology and cost reduction. The purpose of this study is to understand the history and current status of the CPV industry through literature research and the utilization of industry value chain and life cycle theory. Another purpose is to analyze the competitiveness of the CPV technology in PV industry using Michael Porter’s model in combination with SWOT. This study shows that in the past few years the capacity expansion of PV industry has been too fast, resulting in over supply in the market. This is the result of an over-estimation of demand which is partly due to the recent dramatic cutback of government subsidization from most countries all over the world. As a result, the industry profit has decreased and competition has become more and more fierce. Under these circumstances, the CPV technology has a more competitive edge as compared to other PV technologies. Because CPV is a technology in its relatively early stage and therefore has more room to improve in many areas including efficiency, reduction and reuse of fabrication materials thus the reduction of cost. It is promising that CPV can overcome the above mentioned issues faced by the PV industry as long as it continues its R&D in product differentiation, pushes for economic scale, and strives for the possibility of vertical integration.