plant to 1.3 GW by 2016 – together with the ongoing investments in technology and R&D this will future-proof our production.”
Commercial self-consumption study for Germany “The regulatory and general economic environments of each country are of absolute importance for the attractiveness of solar technology,” says Mr Graré. “Currently the UK shows high growth in demand, because of its reliable/stable ROCs scheme, but even after the end of the heavy subsidy schemes, Germany is still our biggest market.” REC recently published a detailed study on the viability of commercial self-consumption of solar energy in Germany, in order to raise
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awareness and educate potential customers. The main findings were that a solar installation with self consumption is most attractive for the retail segment, followed closely by manufacturing, with only small benefits for heavy industry. The payback periods range from 7 – 9 years for retail to 8 – 10 years for manufacturing, and 12 – 15 years for heavy industry. Similar studies were carried out for Italy and Turkey.
Going with the demand 53 per cent of RECs turnover is generated in Europe, followed by 37 per cent from Japan. “We went to Tokyo two years ago, because we found that our company’s values and qualities are really appreciated in this market. We are not keen to push into
markets with low prices and high competition; we would rather work with customers who see us as partners and who respect our quality approach,” explains Mr Graré. And there is also a lot of light on the horizon in Europe, he adds: ”We expect a big demand for large-scale plants in countries like Spain, Cyprus and France soon. Confidence in Europe is recovering, and banks will start to back investments – lower and lower system costs have started to make solar plants good investments, even without the need for government subsidies.” REC products enter the markets via partner channels, distributors and networks of installers; sometimes also directly via EPC contractors, explains Mr Graré. “Our
