The future of solar technology, who is the winner

Over the past few years, the global solar industry, plagued by factors such as a slowdown and oversupply, has undergone a painful process of reshuffling. However, in the last two years, solar energy and related industries have embarked on the road to recovery, and the profitability of mainstream solar companies has slowly begun to recover, and their R&D and technology investment has begun to gradually increase. In fact, Innova Research is seeing a number of major solar companies start looking for new, more efficient solar technologies, and a wave of mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures is also spreading in the solar industry.

When the traditional crystalline silicon solar technology matures, some new solar technologies begin to rise, and some of these new technologies have been applied on a large scale. Hanergy's copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film solar production capacity has also reached the GW level after the production capacity and installation of chromium telluride (CDTE) thin-film solar modules led by industry giant First Solar reached one million kilowatts (gigawatts, GW). In addition to this, other new solar technologies are not far behind.

These new technologies include copper-zinc-tin-sulfur (CZTS), concentrated photovoltaic (CPV), organic solar cell (OPV) technology, etc., which have the potential to become a new era of solar energy change-makers.

What solar technology will be more successful in 2020? Mainstream solar companies are looking for an answer to this question; Companies that are new to or have plans to enter the solar space are also looking for an answer to this question; Investment firms in the new energy sector are eager to find out the answer to this question to ensure they invest in promising solar technologies. With this in mind, Innova Research will publish a report at the end of June entitled "Chasing the Sun – Finding the Solar Technology of the Future".

The report will systematically sort through more than 13,000 patents for solar-related technologies and technology mergers and acquisitions that have occurred in the solar field over the past few years to find solar technologies that are likely to win in the future. At the same time, Innova Research will systematically evaluate these future solar technologies from various aspects such as technical indicators such as conversion efficiency, technology maturity, market development potential, and the strength of technology owners. And ultimately recommend to readers which technologies are most likely to become the new winners in the solar industry in 2020.

The success of a solar technology in the future may depend not only on the performance and metrics of the technology, but also on the ability of the owner of the technology to continue to innovate and have the financial resources to ensure that the technology continues to advance. As Dr. Ng Yinglan, Director of Research at Innova Research, points out:"The integration of the solar industry chain and the associated capital operation have greatly improved the financial position of the incumbents in the industry, making it possible for them to continue to seek innovation and breakthroughs in new solar technologies and related materials.

On the other hand, the emergence of new technologies also presents huge opportunities for solar industry leaders and new companies and investors who want to enter the solar industry through mergers and acquisitions. "