Overview of the PV Industry and R&D Strategies in Korea at the 2^nd Growth Stage

Abstract

Photovoltaics (PV) is the most renowned sustainable energy source in the world. Grid parity has already been realized in some countries in the EU and North America. The annual global PV installation reached 37 GW in 2013, showing a growth rate of 35 %. Even after the period of worldwide liquidation in the PV industry, the annual growth rate of the PV market is expected to exceed 20 %. Not only the EU countries, the conventional early birds in the PV field, but also the countries in the Sunbelt area could join and revitalize the market. The megatrend regarding the PV industry and market can be examined from the perspective of society, culture, economy, technology, environment, system, and policy. Development aspects in the PV industry can be categorized according to the stages of significant changes in technology, industry, and market. Photovoltaics 3.0 indicates that the 2nd growth stage will soon unfold full‐fledged market growth. The PV industry is the core of renewable energy (RE) industry in Korea, which accounts for 73 %, 80 %, and 90 % attribution to employment, sales, and exports, respectively, of the total amount of the RE industry. The PV R&D strategies in Korea put emphasis on the consolidation of the competitive domestic PV technologies, and the expansion of the domestic supply, through: improvement of technical competitiveness and cost reduction in system installation and generation; the creation of new markets through enhancement of commercialized key elemental technologies; the nurturing of the global hidden PV champions through promotion of the healthy ecology of the PV industry; and development of competitive technologies of components, materials, and equipment. To lead the quantum leap of the PV industry, as an act against the future market, we would advance key elemental technologies of next‐generation solar cells and exploit PV fusion systems.

Assessing the impact of R&D policy on PV market development: The case of South Korea

“…An increasing number of studies of the PV industry in Korea address the current status and trend in PV technology, policy, market, and investment (Jo, Lee, Jeon, & Lee, 2009;Park, 2017;Woo, 2017). Several publications focus on government R&D to emphasize the role of the government in strategically vitalizing the Korean PV industry (Kim, Pang, Ahn, & Park, 2013;KISTEP, 2012;Son, Moon, & Ahn, 2015). Park, Cho, Byeon, and Cho (2015) analyzed the connectivity among different PV technologies to find ways of improving the efficiency of R&D investment.…”