Global Floating Solar PV Market Trends and Forecast from 2025 to 2030

1. Global Floating Solar PV Market Summary

The total value of the global floating solar PV market is expected to reach $948.84 million by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.01% from 2025 to 2030. This indicates that the industry will continue to grow globally and the market size will continue to expand. Floating Solar PV is an emerging technology in which a solar photovoltaic (PV) system is placed directly on top of a body of water, as opposed to on land or on building rooftops.

Global Floating Solar PV  Industry Market Size

2. Market Dynamics

Drivers

The floating solar PV market is driven by countries with high land costs or limited land availability. Large conventional photovoltaic power plants require large amounts of land to generate viable electricity. However, some countries have high population density, low proportion of flat terrain, and limited land resources, which have been limiting the growth of the global solar market. Floating solar photovoltaic energy usually takes advantage of water space. For example, floating solar cell arrays can be installed on hydroelectric dam reservoirs. Therefore, floating photovoltaic technology is being promoted globally. Due to the increase in investment in renewable energy, the floating solar photovoltaic market is also developing. In the process of burning natural gas, crude oil, and coal in power plants, large amounts of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. This is the biggest cause of air pollution, global warming, climate change, and ozone depletion. To curb environmental degradation, governments around the world are promoting projects that use clean energy to generate electricity. This has led to increased investment in renewable technologies, including floating photovoltaic power plants.

Constraints

Although enough large-scale projects have been implemented to make floating solar technology commercially viable, its development still faces some challenges. These include the lack of reliable records, the uncertainty surrounding costs, the uncertainty of predicting environmental impacts, the technical complexity of design and construction, and the complexity of water and water operations (especially electrical safety, anchoring and mooring issues, And operation and maintenance). Labor, design and engineering, supply chain, and logistics are important factors in the high capital expenditure of floating solar applications. These costs may vary greatly from project to project. Compared with ground-mounted arrays of the same size and similar location, technical investigations of floating solar projects usually take longer, resulting in higher total costs. The photovoltaic industry is a new energy industry that requires subsidies from the state finances. The state’s macro-control policies and measures on photovoltaic installed capacity, subsidy scale, and subsidy intensity will directly affect the production and operation of companies in the same industry. As government subsidies to the industry decrease, it will affect industry investment.

3. Market Segment

By Type

The crystalline silicon floating solar PV market size is expected to be 825.31 million US dollars, with a market share of 86.98% in 2025, due to technological advances and cost-effectiveness improvements. The other floating solar PV market size is estimated at $123.53 million, with a market share of 13.02% in 2025, and the growth is likely to include increased market demand for new floating PV technologies.

Crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules, especially monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon modules, have been quite mature after years of development. With the improvement of material processing technology and packaging technology, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules has been continuously improved, and the efficiency of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules in the laboratory has reached more than 25%. The production cost of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules is gradually reduced with the expansion of production scale and optimization of technology, which makes crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules more competitive in the market. Many governments have promoted renewable energy and introduced various policy tools, such as financial subsidies and tax incentives, to support the development of solar energy projects. For example, the Chinese government encourages polysilicon enterprises to reasonably control product price levels and provides government support policies. Crystalline silicon PV is known for its high efficiency, reliability, and long-term performance, making it the dominant technology in the global solar market. High-efficiency crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules can reduce the required installation area, reduce system balance costs, and improve the overall economic benefits. Increasing awareness among market participants and buyers of the adverse environmental impacts of other solar cells has increased the demand for crystalline silicon solar cells as it is based on renewable energy sources.

By Application

The inland applications market size is expected to be $683.94 million, with a market share of 72.08% by 2025, due to growth including efficient use of land space and increased demand for renewable energy. The market size for Marine applications is estimated at $264.90 million, with a market share of 27.92%, and the growth is likely to include technological advances in Marine energy development and increased utilization of Marine space.

With the large increase of pavement photovoltaic power stations, there is a serious shortage of land resources that can be used for installation and construction. Floating solar photovoltaic systems do not occupy valuable land resources, especially suitable for inland areas with limited land resources. The cooling effect of water improves the efficiency of floating solar systems, resulting in higher energy output than traditional ground-based systems. In inland waters such as lakes and reservoirs, this cooling effect is particularly obvious, which helps to improve the power generation efficiency of photovoltaic panels. Floating solar photovoltaic panels demonstrate environmental advantages by minimizing water evaporation, reducing algae growth, and maintaining lower panel temperatures, thereby increasing efficiency, which is particularly important for environmental protection in inland waters. The global demand for renewable energy continues to grow, especially with climate change concerns and the search for clean energy alternatives, increasing the demand for floating solar PV. Although the floating equipment increases the cost of equipment and installation, it can still achieve affordable Internet access after scale, and then combined with fishing and light complementary, can achieve better economic benefits, which is especially attractive for the pursuit of economic benefits in inland areas. Inland FPV technology and experience have laid the foundation for photovoltaic transplantation to offshore development, and some projects have taken the lead in near-shore low-wind and wave areas, and are now gradually developing into more challenging Marine environments.

Market Revenue and Share Forecast for 2025

4. Regional Market

The market size of the Asia-Pacific region is estimated at $666.93 million, with a market share of 70.29% by 2025, due to the strong demand for renewable energy and technological advancements in the region.

The European market size is expected to be $131.11 million with a market share of 13.82%, and the growth is likely to include policy support for environmentally friendly energy sources.

The North American market size is expected to be $62.59 million, with a market share of 6.60%, and the growth is likely to include increased investments in clean energy.

The Asia-Pacific region has experienced rapid growth in the renewable energy sector, with an increasing share of the energy mix coming from renewables. The increasing demand for cleaner power generation alternatives in the region is driving the floating solar system market. The Asia Pacific region, especially densely populated countries, faces the problem of limited land resources, which has prompted people to look for alternative land use methods, such as floating solar photovoltaic systems on water. Several governments in the Asia-Pacific region have promoted renewable energy and introduced various policy tools, such as net metering and feed-in tariff policies, as well as reduced equipment taxes, access fees, taxes, and loan interest rates, to support the development of solar projects. Falling prices of solar panels and related equipment, especially in China as the backbone of the region’s manufacturing industry, have increased its production capacity and significantly improved the competitiveness of solar energy. Asia Pacific countries such as China, India, and Japan are both large energy consumers and large producers of renewable energy, which drives the development of the floating solar PV market. The Asia-Pacific region is applying emerging technologies such as virtual power plants and peer-to-peer energy trading, further expanding the potential of the renewable energy sector.

Global Floating Solar PV Market Share Forecast by Region

5. Market Competition

The floating solar PV industry concentration is high, the top three companies are Hanwha Q Cells, LONGi Solar, and Kyocera, with market shares of 12.14%, 9.72%, and 8.70% respectively in 2024.

Hanwha Q Cells: Hanwha Q CELLS Co., Ltd. manufactures photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules and it is also engaged in downstream development and EPC business in EMEA, North and Latin Americas, and across APAC. The Company sells its products both through third-party distributors and directly to system integrators.

LONGi Solar: LONGi leads the solar PV industry to new heights with product innovations and optimized power cost ratio with breakthrough monocrystalline technologies. LONGi supplies high-efficiency solar wafers and modules worldwide yearly.

Kyocera: Kyocera Corporation manufactures electronic equipment and components. The Company’s products include telecommunication equipment, information equipment, optical equipment, ceramic products, semiconductor parts, chips, hybrid integrated circuits, thermal printheads, image sensors, liquid crystal displays, and connectors. Kyocera operates worldwide.

Ciel＆Terre International: Established in 2006 as a specialist in the integration of photovoltaic systems, Ciel & Terre® (C&T) has been fully devoted to floating solar PV since 2011 developing the first patented and industrialized water-based PV concept HYDRELIO®. Ciel & Terre has been developing large-scale floating photovoltaic power plants for global businesses, governments, and non-profit organizations.

JA Solar: JA Solar was founded in 2005. The company’s business ranges from silicon wafers, cells, and modules to complete photovoltaic power systems, and its products are sold to 135 countries and regions. On the strength of its continuous technological innovation, sound financial condition, well-established global sales, and customer service network, JA Solar has been highly recognized by authoritative associations in the industry as a leading global manufacturer of high-performance PV products.

Major Players