Come hither: Thailand's attractive solar market lures Chinese firms

They are finding ways to offset overcapacity in domestic market.

According to BMI Research, the Thai solar market is becoming increasingly attractive to Chinese solar companies, as they look to offset the overcapacity in their domestic market and seek out alternative growth opportunities.

"We expect those companies who are focusing heavily on expanding beyond their domestic market to outperform others with a smaller international footprint. We previously highlighted in our analysis that the Thai solar market is becoming increasingly attractive to Chinese solar companies, as they look to offset the overcapacity in their domestic market and seek out alternative growth opportunities," BMI said.

This view continues to play out as BMI has seen several Chinese solar manufacturers commit investment and set up module production facilities in the rapidly
expanding Thai solar industry over the last year, including Trina Solar, Zhongli Talesun Solar, Symbior Solar, Suntech Power and most recently, Yingli
Green Energy. Yingli Green Energy announced in January 2016, that it will establish a 300MW photovoltaic (PV) panel production plant in Rayong, Thailand in
conjunction with Thai company Demeter Corporation.

Although China remains the biggest renewables market in the world, dominating the global context, growth in the sector is set to slow. In the solar segment specifically, overproduction in the solar manufacturing segment has exposed Chinese solar manufacturers to vast overcapacity, BMI added.