PV EXPO 2014

One of the Top Three Photovoltaic Shows in the Global PV Market
In Europe, it's Intersolar, and North America has the SPI Show. But for those companies interested in expanding into the strong PV market in Japan and the Far East, the place to be this year was the PV Expo 2014 held in Tokyo Big Sight on February 26 thru 28. In a truly global and fast maturing market, all signs now point to a critical mass being reached in the Far East, which makes attendance at this show a must.

You can hear it in the confident voices of many PV module makers here, like Mr. Don-in Shin of Qcells Corporation Japan, who was happy to announce that Qcells has already sold 520 megawatts (MW) worth of modules in Japan in 2013. His company now would like to target the untapped domestic residential market, so gathering information here about broader trends is important. "It's a bigger concept show because [World Smart Energy Week] has not only solar but also wind and smart grid sectors. With all these different sectors covered we can benchmark many other companies at this show and learn a lot about related industries."

Photovoltaics is Booming in Japan
The opportunities offered at PV Expo come from the continued PV market expansion in Japan, due to the introduction of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) in July 2012. The FIT is a government incentive program that gives renewable energy producers the right to sell their excess energy to electric utilities under long-term, fixed price conditions, and has predictably sparked sharp growth.

Opportunities are abundant for every type of PV product and service in both commercial and residential markets, from PC modules, to mounting systems, to full turnkey systems, to large projects involving EPC (engineering/ procurement/ construction) companies. Mr. Vincent Wu of Linuo Power Group also said that "these two years will be critical to establish a share in this rapidly growing module market."

Good Categorization and Attendee Quality Make Business a Breeze
As is to be expected in Japan, exhibitors gave the organizers of the show high marks for organization, publicity, and especially for savvy categorization of a broad range of sectors and product niches.

Mr. Willem Haag of K2 Systems put his finger on exactly why the show was so efficient: "The halls divide up the categories well: if you want modules, you go there, if you want inverters, go there, if you want turnkey systems, go there." Mr. Gyanesh Chaudhary of Vikram Solar Private Limited gave his impressions of this, his first time at the show: "The show is well publicized, well-focused, with no non-essentials, and all the major players are here." Mr. Jukka Tittanen of ABB Holdings thought that the show attracted "lots of customers and early adapters". Many others agreed that the quality of the attendees was an important factor in making PV Expo a success for them. Mr. Sota Koyama of XSol Corporation (Japan) found that "the attendees' knowledge level is very high, they know what they want, and what they want to learn."