JinkoSolar has emerged as the leading company in terms of global solar photovoltaic (PV) module shipments in 2019. The company also secured top position in GlobalData’s 2018 ranking produced last year.

JinkoSolar topped the 2019 ranking with 14.2 gigawatts (GW) of PV modules compared to the second ranked JA Solar’s 10.3GW. Most of the companies featured in the table are from Asia-Pacific (APAC).

GlobalData found that there has been no significant change in 2019’s ranking compared to 2018’s. However, the top 10 manufacturers have shown improvement in their shipments over the last year. In 2019, the top 10 manufacturers shipped approximately 80.3GW modules compared to 63GW in 2018, an increment of more than 27%. The top 10 manufacturers are likely to dictate with more than 75% of the module shipments in 2020.

Ankit Mathur, Practice Head of Power at GlobalData, comments: “The global solar PV market is riding high on account of higher demand, continuous reduction costs, software & technological advancements and improvement in module efficiency. The enhanced solar system efficiency and performance coupled with data analytics for better asset management and commercial monitoring has significantly reduced the LCOE and stands to improve further on greater technological advancements.” 

JA Solar in second place, held a strong position with a shipment increase of around 17% due to high product quality and reliability, and performance and innovation. JA Solar reported that the efforts made to expand their presence in the emerging international markets in the Middle East have led to increased module shipments and profitability.

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Trina Solar and LONGi Solar occupied third and fourth place, with shipments of 9.7GW and 9GW, respectively. Canadian Solar came fifth with 8.5GW; Hanwha Q CELLS was sixth with 7.3GW; Risen Energy stood in seventh place with 7GW; and First Solar secured eighth position with 5.5GW shipments.

Mathur adds: “Chinese manufacturers will continue to dominate as the overall leader in solar installations in 2020 as newer emerging markets in SE Asia, Latin America and the Middle East mark their presence on the solar map as demand centers. China, the US, Europe and India will continue to remain the major markets for the solar module suppliers.”