First Solar leads world’s top 30 utility-scale solar EPC contractors ranking for 2015
Wiki-Solar.org released this week the list of world’s top 30 utility-scale solar EPC contractors for the year 2015, where First Solar ranks first again, as it did in 2014.
European contractors still play a prominent role in the world market for utility-scale solar projects according to figures shown in the table below released by Wiki-Solar.org. Europe slipped to a distant third place when 2015 year-end figures were published recently, but its companies still benefit from the leadership it enjoyed earlier in the decade, with 16 in the world’s top 30 EPC contractors.
| Rank | EPC contractor | Projects number | Capacity MW AC |
| 1 | First Solar [US] | 44 | 3,217 |
| 2 | Juwi Solar [DE] | 68 | 895 |
| 3 | Swinerton Renewable Energy [US] | 41 | 774 |
| 4 | Enerparc [DE] | 83 | 757 |
| 5 | SunEdison [US] (part of: MEMC) | 43 | 680 |
| 6 | SunPower Corporation [US] (inc. Sunray Renewable) | 26 | 474 |
| 7 | Activ Solar [AT] | 11 | 466 |
| 8 | TBEA SunOasis [CN] (part of: TBEA) | 8 | 440 |
| 9 | Q-Cells [DE] (now: Hanwha Q.Cells) | 18 | 409 |
| 10 | Bechtel [US] | 2 | 376 |
| 11 | Eiffage [FR] | 6 | 369 |
| 12 | Canadian Solar [CA] | 19 | 363 |
| 13 | Amec Foster Wheeler [GB] | 9 | 358 |
| 14 | IB Vogt Solar [DE] | 35 | 343 |
| 15 | Trina Solar [CN] | 1 | 331 |
| 16 | Martifer [PT] | 33 | 318 |
| 17 | Phoenix Solar [DE] | 31 | 292 |
| 18 | Belectric [DE] | 20 | 262 |
| 19 | Toshiba [JP] | 6 | 243 |
| 20 | Abengoa Solar [ES] | 3 | 241 |
| 21 | Gestamp [ES] (now: X-Elio) | 17 | 227 |
| 22 | Solarcentury [GB] | 22 | 227 |
| 23 | Saferay [DE] | 16 | 227 |
| 24 | Yingli Solar [CN] | 7 | 217 |
| 25 | Conergy [DE] (now part of: Kawa Capital) | 20 | 202 |
| 26 | Quanta Power Generation [US] | 9 | 195 |
| 27 | GP Joule [DE] | 12 | 182 |
| 28 | SunEnergy1 [US] | 8 | 178 |
| 29 | Isolux Corsán [ES] | 10 | 163 |
| 30 | Larsen & Toubro [IN] | 11 | 163 |
Wiki-Solar founder, Philip Wolfe, says:
“The leading European contractors have taken the experience they acquired when their home markets were booming, and are now active in emerging markets around the world.Some of the prominent North American contractors are doing the same, though others have stuck mainly to their home market.”
Wiki-Solar points out that the contributions of some participants, both on and off the list, may be understated, because it holds data on the contractors for only about 50% of projects.
Philip Wolfe added:
“Many of the leading players keep us informed about their contributions, but the involvement of others is likely to be understated, typically by half.”
In particular there are likely to be more Chinese companies in the top ranks than the three shown here – Chinese projects tend not to publish details of the EPC contractors – and according to Wolfe, we can expect to see more Indian contractors next time the list is published.
Philip Wolfe concludes:
“It’s interesting to see some of the solar module manufacturers diversifying vertically into construction and project development, but the majority of the companies listed here remain pure play EPC contractors”.
Source: Press Release by Wiki-Solar.org. Image Credit: Walmart via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
