Bonn. Among Californian installers in 2011, the indirect purchase of solar modules via wholesalers clearly dominated. Around two thirds of the solar companies questioned preffered this method of purchase. Around 80 percent stated that they used PV specialised wholesalers. This was found out in the course of a recent study on the American photovoltaic market by the market and opinion research organization EuPD Research. The situation for the purchase of inverters was similar – around 70 percent of the surveyed installers preferred to purchase via wholesalers. Among this group, around 9 out of 10 installers chose to buy their inverters from solar specialized wholesalers. Thus, the figures for Californian installers purchasing modules indirectly lie slightly under the average for the five most significant US photovoltaic markets – New Jersey, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Arizona and California. However, the purchasing habits of installers in these five states tend to vary greatly.
Purchase management in focus of the next network event
The Joint Forces for Solar Initiative’s 6th PV Briefing and Networking Forum will be taking place on 19th March at The Sainte Claire Hotel in San José, California. The focus of this event will be on the purchasing management of Californian installers. From 7.30am to 10.00am, visitors will receive an insight into the current developments through the presentation “Procurement management in focus – Winning strategies for California“. After this, they are invited to share their thoughts and opinions with photovoltaic experts from the industry during the panel discussion “What does the future hold for the Californian PV market?”. Participants in this discussion round will be Nick Chase of Q-Cells, Willis He of CSUN, Mignon Marks of CALSEIA and Amy Reardon of the Californian Puplic Utilities Commission.
A special thank you goes out to the premium sponsor CSUN, gold sponsor Q-Cells, the event partners German American Chamber of Commerce and CALSEIA, as well as the media partners pv magazine, Sun & Wind Energy and PV-Tech.org.
Information about the event
The networking Event “6th PV Briefing & Networking Forum USA” will be taking place on 19th March 2012 from 7.30am to 10.00am. The event location is “The Sainte Claire Hotel“ in San José, California. Participation is free of charge for installers.
If you would like to take part in the event or would like more information about the study, please feel free to contact Mr. Daniel Fuchs (fuchs@jointforces4solar.com | +49 228 42966 45).
You can find more information about the Joint Forces for Solar Initiative on our website.