The mature technologies of wind and solar energy are currently going through significant changes that are resulting in the structural consolidation of the market. With highly automated mass prod­uction, these technologies are achieving the type of low cost structure they need to make them less reliant on state support, according to a report of Switzerland-based private bank­ing group Bank Sarasin.

As an expanding commercial sector, renewable energies are currently evolving into a more mature and established industry, with photovoltaics (PV) moving more in the direction of the electronics industry, while wind energy shifts more towards the area of mechanical engineering and construction.

More and more industrial con­glomerates from the elect­r­onics and mechanical engine­er­ing indu­stries are entering the field of renewables. This is resu­lting in a streamlining of market structures and is accelerating consolidation process, said the report.

This year PV exp­erienced dy­n­amic growth of around 50 per ce­nt despite steep drops in feed-in tariffs. As early as 2012 it should be possible to generate solar en­ergy at a competitive price with­out state subsidies in attractive markets such as California, Italy.

Noting that PV prices are falling, the report expects the volumes in PV industry to go on rising and forecasts average annual growth in newly installed PV capacity of 35 per cent up to 2015, resulting in a cumulative capacity of 170 GW.

Wind energy will experience higher than average growth in Asia especially, and in new mar­kets such as Australia, Canada, Brazil and India. In Europe there are high hopes of a more dynamic expansion of offshore wind parks. Cumulative wind energy capacity totalling 500 GW will be installed worldwide up to 2015, it added. The rise in global competition may lead to attractive price cuts, which will in turn make individual renewable technologies compet­itive more quickly.