Europe’s Solar Market Stabilizes – Chinese Brands, Led by LONGi, Dominate Top 5

In November, the average price of various solar photovoltaic (PV) modules in Europe remained stable, consistent with overall buyer confidence in the European solar industry.

This conclusion is based on the latest pv.index report from sun.store, which covers purchasing trends and market sentiment in the European solar sector. The average selling prices of two types of monofacial PV modules tracked by analysts—PERC and TOPCon—remained unchanged between October and November, stabilizing at €0.077/Wp and €0.098/Wp, respectively.

Meanwhile, prices for bifacial TOPCon and back-contact modules declined slightly. The price of bifacial TOPCon solar panels decreased from €0.094/Wp to €0.09/Wp, and the price of back-contact modules decreased from €0.104/Wp to €0.101/Wp.

Specifically, after the price decline, the average selling price of bifacial TOPCon modules returned to the level of January this year. The previous year, the price of this module surged to €0.105/W in April, by a continuous decline over the next few months.

This was also the first time pv.index specifically tracked back-contact module prices, which subsequently fell from their October industry highs in Europe, when back-contact modules were the most expensive. All-black modules then took their place, averaging €0.104/W, making them the only module type to see a month-on-month price increase.

The PV Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) is a metric used by sun.store users to measure their purchasing intentions. The PMI has remained stable at 66 for three consecutive months, with a score above 50 indicating widespread confidence in market growth in the coming months. sun.store stated that this indicates a “balanced and confident market,” while “remaining cautious” in module procurement.

“November further confirms the notion that the market has matured after a volatile adjustment period,” explained Filip Kierzkowski, Head of Partnerships and Transactions at sun.store. The European PV module market had previously bottomed out and rebounded in October. "Prices have remained stable as the year draws to a close, and buyer behavior has been relatively restrained."

However, buyer confidence has slightly improved in recent months. While the overall PV Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) has remained stable at 66, the proportion of buyers expecting to purchase more modules in the coming months has slowly increased, from 45% in September to 46% in October, and now to 47% in November.

Although this proportion is still far lower than the 58% of buyers who expected to increase inventory in February, when the PMI was 73, the highest in the past 18 months, this slight improvement in buyer confidence is still noteworthy.

Chinese companies lead in module brand rankings

Another part of ranks various module and inverter suppliers; in November, Chinese PV giant LONGi regained the top spot in the solar module brand rankings, replacing Jinko, another Chinese industry leader. Unsurprisingly, the top five module manufacturers are all from China.

Similarly, Chinese manufacturer Huawei topped the rankings for both hybrid and string inverters, overtaking Deutsche Welle in the hybrid inverter rankings and consolidating its months-long lead in the string inverter rankings. The regional diversity in the inverter rankings was slightly greater than in the module rankings, with Austrian company Fronius and German manufacturer SMA Solar both ranking among the top five inverter manufacturers.

While prices for grid-connected inverters and hybrid inverters with capacities greater than 15kW rose between October and November, prices for all inverters tracked by pv.index have declined from the beginning of the year to November. The largest price drop was seen in hybrid inverters with capacities less than 15kW, whose prices fell from €123.97/kW in January to €98.74/kW in November.

Looking ahead, Filip Kierzkowski said sun.store expects manufacturers to increase their module inventories, a comment echoing his views expressed in a guest blog post for PV Tech last month, where he considered the possibility of another supply glut in the European solar market.

“At the same time, we’re noticing that manufacturers are increasing their module inventories, which typically leads to year-end clearance sales and targeted promotions, some of which are already happening on sun.store,” he said.