Boston, MA - September 12, 2011 - Increasing demand for green energy solutions that will replace the global dependence on fossil fuels is pushing terrestrial photovoltaic installations. The Strategy Analytics Gallium Arsenide and Compound Semiconductor Technologies (GaAs) service report, “Terrestrial Opportunities for Compound Semiconductor Photovoltaics,” forecasts that almost 200GW will be installed worldwide by 2016, with III-V compound semiconductor-based concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) technology growing at a compound annual average growth rate of 75 percent from 2011-2016.

Global demand for renewable energy is growing rapidly. The terrestrial photovoltaics (PV) market was estimated to be worth over $80 billion in 2011, with conventional Si-based technology dominating roughly 82 percent of the total market. Strategy Analytics predicts that the terrestrial photovoltaics market will grow with a compound average annual growth rate (CAAGR) of ten percent to reach a value of $100 billion by 2016.

“While conventional Silicon-based technologies will continue to dominate PV installations, that will decline to 74 percent by the end of 2016,” predicts Asif Anwar at Strategy Analytics. “Thin film and CPV technologies will be the primary challengers to Si-based PV installations. Strategy Analytics predicts that the CPV market will grow at a faster rate than conventional PV technologies and account for almost 5 percent of new PV installations by 2016.”

“Even though the performance capabilities of III-V CPV technologies are well established, deployment has been limited to date,” noted Eric Higham, GaAs Service Director. “However, the III-V CPV industry has successfully established III-V CPV technologies as economical and competitive alternatives to conventional technology solutions.”