NanoMarkets, a leading
industry analyst based here, today announced the release of "Indium Markets
for Photovoltaics." This report is one of a series of "Metals in PV"
reports examining opportunities for various metals in the photovoltaics industry.
This report contains an analysis and market projections of indium-containing
sputtering targets, nanoparticle-based inks, salts for electrodeposition and
other related materials based on NanoMarkets' ongoing research on materials
used in photovoltaics (PV). Further details about the report are available at
www.nanomarkets.net.
The consumption of indium by the PV industry will grow ten-fold over the next
eight years--a growth rate that is faster than that expected for the display
industry, which is the dominant user of indium. NanoMarkets' research suggests
that the quantity of indium used for photovoltaics will reach over 228 metric
tons (MT) in 2016.
Driving this growth is the shift away from traditional crystalline silicon
(c-Si) PV toward thin-film PV (TFPV) technologies, in particular copper-indium-gallium-selenide
(CIGS) PV. Of the approximately 20 tons of indium currently consumed annually
by the PV industry, more than half of it is used for the absorber layer of CIGS
PV cells. NanoMarkets expects CIGS' portion of PV-consumed indium to rise to
over 80 percent by 2016, while CIGS PV cells will still represent only eight
percent of PV megawatts.
NanoMarkets also expects a move away from vacuum deposition methods currently
used to manufacture CIGS PV cells to electrodeposition and printing with inks.
This will impact the type of indium materials used. The relative consumption
of sputtering targets and evaporation slugs will decrease in favor of indium
salts for electrodeposition and nanoparticles of indium, indium selenide, and
indium oxide for inks. NanoMarkets expects printing and electrodeposition to
represent close to 28 percent, or 52.3 MT, of the total indium consumption for
CIGS PV in 2016.
While CIGS is the largest consumer of indium in the PV industry, ITO is also
used as the transparent electrode in several of the TFPV technologies. NanoMarkets
research suggests that indium consumption for ITO in the PV industry will grow
from 13 MT in 2011, to 39.4 MT in 2016.
The continuing hyper-growth in the PV industry combined with the expectation
that CIGS PV will take a more prominent position within this industry will create
a new demand pool for indium. This report provides more on how this growth will
occur and what this will mean for indium producers. The report focuses on traditional
indium, but will also discuss the use of newer materials such as indium-containing
composites. The report begins with a review of the state of the PV industry
and then goes into indium's current and potential roles in each of the PV segments.
Finally, the report quantifies the opportunities for indium in the PV space
through an eight-year forecast.