BIPV capacity to grow tenfold by 2015

The capacity of the building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) industry is set to grow nearly tenfold over the next five years, according to a new report from BCC Research.

At the end of 2010, the size of the industry was estimated at 1.2GW, but the BCC’s ‘Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV): Technologies and Global Markets’ report claims that, thanks to advances in solar technology, architecture and the exponential growth in popularity of renewable energy alternatives, this will increase to 11.4GW by 2015.

Such growth equates to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56% and is being primarily driven in the near- and mid-term by the booming BIPV roofing market; in 2010 the worldwide capacity of BIPV roof systems came to 404MW. By 2015 this number will have jumped to 3.2GW.

The BCC believes that the growth within BIPV manufacturing will be even more dramatic. Last year, production in the sector accounted for just 200kW, a figure which will grow by 670% to 5.4GW over the coming five years.