Global Flexible Solar Panel Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

Global Flexible Solar Panel Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

There are mainly three types of flexible solar panels: amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium gallium selenide. Flexible solar panels directly deposit thin films such as light-absorbing materials and electrodes on flexible substrates and perform final packaging.
With the rapid development of photovoltaic application scenarios and demands in recent years, solar panel technology tends to be thin-film and flexible. Flexible solar panels are thin, bendable, easy to carry and transport, and easy to integrate with surfaces of different shapes. Flexible solar panels have broad application prospects in industrial, residential, aerospace, automotive, and military fields.

Market Overview:

The latest research study on the global Flexible Solar Panel market finds that the global Flexible Solar Panel market reached a value of USD 768.38 million in 2022. It’s expected that the market will achieve USD 1650.52 million by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 13.59% during the forecast period.

Affect the industry supply chain

The epidemic will have a short-term impact on the flexible solar panel industry. Due to blockade measures, shortage of labor force, and interruption of the global supply chain, it is difficult for enterprises producing flexible solar panels to purchase and transport raw materials and equipment, and upstream enterprises affect the work progress of downstream enterprises. Equipment manufacturing and product manufacturing enterprises in the flexible solar panel industry are affected to varying degrees, and production and delivery may be delayed to a certain extent.

In addition, the COVID-19 epidemic has led to the closure of many manufacturing plants around the world. The epidemic has caused huge income losses to the automobile, residential building and industrial end-user industries. In addition, it is expected that after the blockade is lifted in many countries, the product demand of the end-user department may increase.

Technical challenge

Efficiency and cost are two major factors that restrict the development of flexible solar cells. The structure and performance of the battery are directly related to the structure and morphology of the substrate, and the performance of the solar battery varies with the preparation temperature. Therefore, for flexible substrates with high roughness and that can't withstand high temperatures, it is necessary to develop a new preparation process and design a new structure. In addition, the industrial production of flexible solar cells needs roll-to-roll production equipment. At present, the manufacturing level of roll-to-roll equipment is generally low. The production of large-area flexible solar panel components is slow and the yield is low, which leads to higher costs for flexible solar panels.

Flexible solar panels still face many problems such as material preparation and stability, material life under complex conditions, photoelectric conversion efficiency, charge and discharge efficiency, safety, and cost.

Develop new flexible substrate materials

As the substrate of the flexible solar panel, it needs to meet several conditions: it has the same or similar thermal expansion coefficient as the battery material, can withstand the battery preparation process temperature, has small surface roughness, is light, and has a low cost. At present, the materials commonly used as flexible substrates are stainless steel foil, PI, PEN, and PET. Among them, the stainless-steel foil can withstand the manufacturing process temperature of the battery, but the surface roughness of the substrate is large, and the metal impurities in it will diffuse into the battery during the manufacturing process, which will affect the battery efficiency. PI, PEN, and PET have smaller surface roughness and lighter weight, but they can't bear the high-temperature process, and the battery efficiency will also be affected. Therefore, developing new flexible substrate materials with lightweight, low cost and high-temperature resistance will not only help to further reduce costs but also help to improve battery efficiency.

Region Overview:

Geographically, Americas held the largest market share -- 49.84% in 2021.

Company Overview:

MiaSol is one of the major players operating in the Flexible Solar Panel market, holding a share of 22% in 2022.

Maxeon

Headquartered in Singapore, Maxeon designs manufactures, and sells SunPower brand solar panels across more than 100 countries, with operations in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the Americas. Maxeon is the leader in solar innovation, with access to over 1,000 patents and two best-in-class differentiated solar panel product lines. The company's flagship SunPower Maxeon panels reach record-setting efficiency and unmatched reliability while its value line SunPower Performance panels offer reliability and output superior to conventional products. Both product lines are deployed at some of the highest-performing solar power plants around the world and are installed on residential and commercial rooftops by a global network of more than 1,100 trusted partners and distributors. Maxeon is also the exclusive supplier of solar panels to California-based SunPower Corporation.

MiaSol

MiaSol is a producer of lightweight, flexible and powerful solar cells and cell manufacturing equipment. The innovative solar cell is based on the highest efficiency thin film technology available today, and its flexible cell architecture makes it ideal for a wide variety of solutions ranging from commercial roofing solar panels to portable mobile devices. MiaSols turnkey CIGS equipment lines, CIGS process equipment technology, proprietary CIG target manufacturing, R&D support and spare parts allow customers to produce their own high-efficiency cells.

Segmentation Overview:

Among different product types, Copper Indium Gallium Selenide segment is anticipated to contribute the largest market share in 2027.

Amorphous Silicon

Amorphous silicon (a-Si) is the non-crystalline form of silicon used for flexible solar panels. Amorphous silicon is deposited in thin films onto a variety of flexible substrates, such as glass, metal, and plastic. Amorphous silicon cells generally feature low efficiency, but are one of the most environmentally friendly photovoltaic technologies, since they do not use any toxic heavy metals such as cadmium or lead.

Cadmium Telluride

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is a stable crystalline compound formed from cadmium and tellurium. It is mainly used as the semiconducting material in cadmium telluride photovoltaics and an infrared optical window. It is usually sandwiched with cadmium sulfide to form a pn junction solar PV cell.

Copper Indium Gallium Selenide

Copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) is an I-III-VI2 semiconductor material composed of copper, indium, gallium, and selenium. The material is a solid solution of copper indium selenide (often abbreviated as CIS) and copper gallium selenide.

It is best known as the material for CIGS solar cells a thin-film technology used in the photovoltaic industry. In this role, CIGS has the advantage of being able to be deposited on flexible substrate materials, producing highly flexible, lightweight solar panels.

Crystalline silicon

The crystalline silicon flexible solar panel usually has the thickness of the traditional flexible solar panel, but it keeps high quality and has a photoelectric conversion efficiency similar to that of the traditional crystalline silicon cell.

Application Overview:

The market's largest segment by application is the segment Automotive, with a market share of 37.22% in 2021.

Key Companies in the global Flexible Solar Panel market covered in Chapter 3:

Enecom
Global Solar
Flisom
Maxeon
MiaSolé
SoloPower Systems
Sunflare
Sun Harmonics
HyET Group
Sungold
Saule Technologies
PowerFilm
Solbian

In Chapter 4 and Chapter 14.2, on the basis of types, the Flexible Solar Panel market from 2018 to 2029 is primarily split into:

Amorphous Silicon
Cadmium Telluride
Copper Indium Gallium Selenide
Crystalline silicon
Others

In Chapter 5 and Chapter 14.3, on the basis of Downstream Industry, the Flexible Solar Panel market from 2018 to 2029 covers:

Industrial
Residential
Aerospace
Automotive
Military
Others

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historic and forecast (2018-2029) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 8 to Chapter 14:

North America (United States, Canada)
Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden)
Asia Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia)
Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina)
Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa)