While challenges still remain for the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry, numbers from 2014 show a sunny forecast for the industry. According to a new white paper issued by the IHS Solar service, solar PV demand grew at a double digit pace in 2014, due mostly to policies in China and Japan. The IHS Solar research team laid out 10 predictions for 2015:

1. Global solar PV demand is forecast to grow by up to 25% in 2015. Dropping solar PV costs will result in a boom in installation demand, IHS forecasts; analysts expect it to grow at a double-digit rate of 16%-25%. Geographically, the largest markets will be China, Japan and the U.S., again. The largest contributors in terms of absolute growth will be China, the U.S. and India.

2. Concentrated Photovoltaic Solar (CPV) to experience accelerated growth. IHS expects a rapid CPV market expansion of 37% starting in 2015. Installations of both high-concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) and low-concentration photovoltaic (LCPV) systems will expand at double-digit percentages every year through 2020.

3. Distributed PV (DPV) in China to fall behind expectations, but continues to grow. While China's market is gaining momentum for DPV, IHS forecasts that it will struggle to meet its targets. IHS forecasts that DPV installations in China will reach 4.7 GW in 2015, an increase of nearly 20% from 2014.

4. Grid-connected PV energy storage installations to triple. IHS is forecasting a shift in the traditional one-directional flow, to a more complex mix of small distributed generators and consumers at all points in the electricity grid. Annual installations of grid-connected PV systems, paired with energy storage, will grow more than threefold, to reach 775 MW in 2015.

5. Emerging markets mature – Chile will follow South Africa to reach 1 GW of installed PV capacity. IHS forecasts that the next emerging market will be Chile, after South Africa, to reach the milestone of 1 GW in installed PV solar capacity. Jordan, the Philippines and Honduras are also expected to experience rapid growth in 2015.

6. Monocrystalline technology to increase market share. IHS expects monocrystalline technology to steadily gain share, benefiting from growth on rooftop installations, and increasing demand for higher-efficiency products. IHS forecasts the monocrystalline share of global cell production will increase by 3%, for a total of 27% in 2015.

7. Systems up to 100 kilowatts to account for 30 percent of global installations. IHS forecasts distributed photovoltaic (DPV) systems—those sized 100 kilowatts (kW) or smaller—will account for 30% of global installations in 2015.

8. Second quarter (Q2) halt to U.K. utility-scale PV to trigger new wave of consolidation among EuropeanEngineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors. By installing 1.4GW of ground-mount systems, the U.K. is expected to dominate the utility-scale PV landscape in Europe. The U.K.'s incentive program is expiring which will bring the surge in utility scale installations to an end, and result in a flurry of consolidation.

9. Three-phase string inverters to account for one-third of global solar inverter revenue. Global revenue for three-phase string inverters is expected to exceed $2.2 billion in 2015, or about one- third of global revenue for the overall market for inverters.

10. California in 2015 will become global leader in solar power penetration. IHS expects that California will become the leader in market share of anuual power generation received from solar pV by the end of 2015. Currently, California is the largest renewable power market in the U.S. Solar power is expected to provide more than 10% of California's 2015 annual power generation.

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