In a report last month, sun.store found that most solar panel buyers planned to increase purchases, saying this "indicates strong confidence in the market."

This conclusion comes from the agency's photovoltaic purchasing managers index tracking (PMI), based on the demand of more than 700 photovoltaic buyers. According to the index standard, values above 50 represent expected growth, 50 represents stable growth, and below 50 represents expected decline. The rating for May 2024 is 72, which is an increase from March and April.

Among the respondents, 57% said they plan to increase component purchases in the next month, while 30% plan to remain stable and 13% plan to reduce purchases.

In its analysis, sun.store said the increase in confidence reflects "a slight recovery in industrial demand as energy prices stabilize and market competition intensifies. Lower energy costs and inflation-induced financial constraints continue to impact residential solar adoption. The increase coincides with solar's usual "peak season" in the summer, the analysis said.

The April pv.index report showed a decline in confidence and demand as energy prices and inflation stabilized. High energy prices were the main driver of a significant increase in residential solar adoption in Europe during the 2022-2023 crisis, which increased module demand.

"Overall, the PV purchasing index for May is considered strong across any sector, reflecting strong buyer confidence. The index rose slightly to 72 from 68 in April, indicating that the market expects demand to remain stable during the summer,” the report said.

Bifacial module prices fell sharply, while monofacial and all-black modules rose slightly

The pv.index report also tracks module prices in Europe. Bifacial module prices "fell sharply" in May, falling to €0.128/Wp (US$0.14/Wp) from €0.135/Wp in April.

Unlike the decline in bifacial module prices, monofacial and all-black module prices both rose slightly.

Agata Krawiec-Rokita, CEO and co-founder of sun.store, said: "We are currently witnessing a stabilization of module transaction prices, but the quotations from listed companies show a slight downward trend in prices.

It is worth noting that there is still a large inventory in Europe and silicon wafer prices are also falling, indicating that many people are waiting for prices to fall further. This situation has been maintained to a certain extent due to the high demand during the peak season. We are all looking forward to seeing what changes the next few months will bring to our market. ”

The report also showed that for the first time since the start of the December 2023 period, JinkoSolar was no longer the preferred module supplier. Another Chinese solar manufacturing giant, JA Solar Technology, jumped to the top spot in May.trina solar panels