Photo Credit: NEXTracker
The global solar PV tracker market grew by 20 percent last year, and the U.S. and Latin America remained the largest markets for tracker technology.
Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables breaks down the global tracker market by megawatts shipped and by region in a new report.
"PV tracker shipments exceeded expectations and surpassed 20 gigawatts last year, with 36 percent year-over-year growth since 2017 in terms of shipments,” said Molly Cox, one of the report authors.
The new solar PV tracker leaderboard confirms the ongoing dominance of NEXTracker, which has more than twice the market share of its closest competitors globally.
The tier under NEXTracker is crowded with ambitious tracker companies that currently rival each other in size, give or take a few percentage points.
Global PV Tracker Market Shares by Shipments for Full-Year 2018 (MWdc)**
**Vendor market shares are accurately represented, but the pie chart total may exceed 100 percent due to rounding
Source: Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables
Array Technologies claimed second place globally in 2018, as it did in 2017, while Arctech Solar now claims third.
As Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables has noted in the past, shrinking vendor margins for PV tracking companies can make it difficult to achieve profitable growth. However, market consolidation is expected to continue.
Global PV Tracker Rankings by MWdc Shipped, 2016-2018
Source: Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables
Latin America became the largest market for solar trackers in 2017 and remains so this year, with 5,851 megawatts in total shipments. The U.S. is a close second. The major growth markets were the Middle East, which grew by 96 percent, and the country of Australia, which grew by 74 percent.
PV trackers continue to be the fastest growing of all racking segments, and the space is expected to continue on an upward trajectory as the global solar market surpasses 100 gigawatts by the end of 2019.
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The Global Solar PV Tracker Market Shares and Shipment Trends, 2019 report provides market share information for the leading solar PV tracker manufacturers, both on a global and regional level. It also includes a historical global ranking of the top 10 solar PV tracker vendors, from 2016 through 2018, along with a cumulative shipment history for these top vendors.