The year 2023 witnessed rapid development and continuous technological innovation in the global roof solar mounting system industry. With the ongoing expansion of the global photovoltaic (PV) market and increasing policy support from various countries, roof PV mounts—as the core load‑bearing structure of PV systems—saw significant changes in market size, technological innovation, and industry landscape. This article systematically reviews important news and trends regarding roof solar mounting systems in 2023, covering policy environment, technological innovation, market dynamics, and typical projects.

I. Market Overview: A Rapidly Growing Emerging Blue Ocean

According to market research data, the global solar roof mounting market reached US$13.03 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to US$38.34 billion by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7%. This growth is mainly driven by increased renewable energy investment, favourable government policies and incentives for solar installations, and the growing demand for durable and efficient mounting solutions in residential and commercial solar projects.

Looking at the broader PV mounting market, the global PV mounting system market was valued at approximately US$22 million in 2023 and is expected to grow significantly to US$94.64 million by 2032. Notably, the Chinese market showed a “fixed‑mount dominance, tracker decline” pattern – in 2023, fixed mounts dominated the Chinese PV mounting market, accounting for 94.70%, while tracking systems saw their market share drop to about 5.3% due to relatively higher costs.

Strong domestic PV installation demand in 2023 drove explosive growth in the PV mounting profile industry. Data show that annual PV profile production reached approximately 4.01 million tonnes, a year‑on‑year increase of 63.67%. This fully reflects the strong pull effect of downstream PV installation demand on the upstream mounting material industry.

II. Policy Environment: Global Incentives and Local Subsidies Working Together

In 2023, major countries and regions worldwide introduced supportive policies for roof PV, effectively boosting demand for roof solar mounting systems.

(i) International Policy Developments

Overseas, Germany approved a new roof PV tax reduction scheme in late 2022, cutting the VAT rate for residential PV systems up to 30 kW to 0%, while providing tax exemptions for small PV system operators. Berlin introduced new regulations, mandating PV installation on new buildings from 2023, requiring PV systems to cover at least 30% of the roof area, with residential buildings also needing to meet a minimum installed capacity of 2 kW.

Greece allocated €200 million for a roof PV programme, encouraging households and farmers to install small PV systems and battery storage to accelerate its goal of net‑zero emissions by 2050. South Africa’s Finance Minister announced a new tax rebate scheme, effective from 1 March 2023, providing individual homeowners who install new roof PV systems a rebate of up to 25% of the PV module cost, capped at ZAR 15,000.

Switzerland installed 1,640 MW of new PV capacity in 2023, a 51% increase year‑on‑year, bringing cumulative PV capacity to 6,374.7 MW. PV generation covered 8.25% of the country’s electricity demand.

(ii) Chinese Policy Support

On the domestic policy front, the promotion of roof distributed PV continued to intensify in 2023. In 2021, the National Energy Administration had already issued a pilot scheme for county‑level roof distributed PV development, specifying clear installation ratio targets: no less than 50% of the total roof area of government office buildings; no less than 40% for public buildings such as schools, hospitals, and village committees.

In January 2023, the Ministry of Housing and Urban‑Rural Development confirmed that several localities, including Beijing and Guangzhou, had issued local subsidy policies for building‑integrated PV (BIPV), encouraging eligible projects to apply. Zhengzhou City offered a subsidy of RMB 0.1/kWh for roof PV for a period of three years. In November 2023, Shanghai issued opinions on promoting the high‑quality development of PV on new residential buildings, setting a target of over 100 MW of new residential PV capacity for 2023‑2025, and promoting BIPV demonstration, scaling, and market application of PV films and PV curtain walls for 2026‑2035. Yangpu District introduced measures to support PV development, offering a 1:1 matching subsidy for residential PV projects that have received municipal energy‑saving and emission‑reduction rewards, with a maximum district‑level subsidy of RMB 50,000 per project.

III. Technological Innovation and Product Breakthroughs: Lightweight, Smart, Integrated

In 2023, roof solar mounting systems saw numerous technological innovations, showing clear trends toward lightweight design, smart functionality, and integration.

(i) Lightweight and Rapid‑Install Systems

Antai New Energy launched its new commercial and industrial product, the SnapFit rapid‑install system, in 2023. Thanks to its innovative elastic drive mechanism and advanced engineering structure, the system increases installation efficiency by up to 50%, effectively saving installation time and delivering higher power generation and installed capacity for end customers. Its MetaRoof series of roof solutions covers all scenarios, including flat concrete roofs, tiled roofs, and metal roofs. All products use high‑performance aluminium alloy, offering ultra‑light weight, strong corrosion resistance, and high durability.

At the SNEC exhibition in May, Antai also released the Taiyang Ding all‑aluminium BIPV full‑scene solution. This product covers three major application scenarios: single‑roof, single‑roof with insulation, and double‑roof, meeting various distributed needs from new roofs to old factory buildings. It features 100% waterproofing, light weight, and high strength.

(ii) Patents and Technological Advances in PV Mounts

In November 2023, LONGi Green Energy obtained a new patent titled “Supporting truss for PV mount, PV mount and PV power station”. This technology significantly improves construction efficiency through optimised structural design.

Jinko Power’s new mounting solution was selected for the 2023 PV Industry Innovation Achievement Catalogue at the China PV Industry Annual Conference in December 2023. By increasing the distance between the beam and the back of the module to over 90 mm, the solution essentially eliminates the power loss caused by beam shading – a significant improvement over mainstream solutions (about 20 mm). Data show that steel consumption is 10%‑25% lower than conventional mounts, and multiple projects have maintained normal operation under extreme weather conditions such as typhoons and blizzards.

In waterproofing innovation, Rixin Technology obtained a utility model patent in January 2023 for “integral roof waterproof PV mount and roof PV system”, enabling full‑roof integration of PV modules and mounts without damaging the original roof waterproof layer. Huanghe Company Xinye Company also obtained a utility model patent for “quick‑mount structure for PV on colour‑coated steel tile roofs”.

(iii) Tracker and Smart Technology Development

At the SNEC exhibition in 2023, Antai New Energy launched its intelligent tracking system solution 3.0. This solution comprehensively optimises tracking systems in both algorithm and structure, combining bifacial tracking algorithms, backtracking algorithms, and power‑tracking algorithms to achieve 2%‑9% power generation gains.

According to 2023 data from the National PV, Storage and Empirical Test Platform (Daqing Base), power generation varies significantly among different mount types: dual‑axis trackers achieved the best performance, delivering a 26.52% gain over fixed mounts for the whole year.

IV. Corporate Developments and Project Construction

(i) Key Company Performance and Strategic Layout

Arctech Solar delivered impressive results in 2023: full‑year operating revenue reached RMB 6.390 billion, a year‑on‑year increase of 72.59%; net profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 345 million, a dramatic increase of 676.58% year‑on‑year. Among this, tracker revenue reached RMB 3.598 billion, up 124.13%, showing strong growth momentum in its tracker business. As of the end of 2023, the company had about RMB 4.7 billion in hand, including approximately RMB 3.6 billion for tracking systems.

Arctech’s management stated at an earnings call that tracker manufacturing capacity is being built out at a slower pace than other PV main materials, and there is currently no excess tracker capacity. The company plans to gradually set up overseas PV mounting structural component capacity in Saudi Arabia and Brazil to enhance its own production and delivery capabilities.

In December 2023, PowerChina held a product branding achievement conference for wind tower barrels and PV mounting products in Beijing. This marked PowerChina’s first concentrated brand launch in the new energy equipment manufacturing sector, signalling that state‑owned enterprises are further increasing their presence in the PV mounting field, building a modern industrial system for wind towers and PV mounts.

The bid winners for CGN New Energy’s 2023‑2024 PV mounting framework procurement were announced, with five companies winning bids, including Jiangsu Huolan Electric Co., Jiangsu Guoqiang Xingsheng Energy Technology Co., Shenzhen Antaike Clean Energy Co., Trina Solar, and Jinhai Xinyuan Electric.

(ii) Major Project Construction and Contract Wins

In January 2023, the largest flexible‑roof distributed PV project in China – the Farasis Energy (Zhenjiang) project – was connected to the grid. The project took two years, using 210,000 m² of flexible factory roof space, with a total grid‑connected capacity of 28.35 MW, generating an average of 27.67 million kWh annually and reducing CO₂ emissions by 25,901 tonnes per year. The project used dedicated bases and clamps for flexible roofs, with heat welding processes and dedicated aluminium alloy mounts that do not damage the roof surface.

Clenergy secured an order for the Guangxi OCEANO 40 MW distributed PV power generation project, using its SolarRoof Aeri system solution designed for commercial and industrial colour‑coated steel tile roofs. The mount structure uses high‑strength aluminium alloy and does not damage the roof during installation. After grid connection, the project is expected to generate an average of 37.17 million kWh per year.

China Merchants Property Operation & Service’s building technology subsidiary won a bid for a distributed PV project in Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province, with an installed capacity of 3.5 MW, providing a full set of equipment and materials including PV modules, inverters, and PV mounts.

Hunan Installation won its first bid for a flexible mount PV project from Datang Group, with a bid value of RMB 160 million. Flexible mounts, characterised by large spans, high clearance, and low material consumption, offer unique advantages in special application scenarios such as “over mountains and water surfaces”.

V. International Exhibitions and Global Expansion

In 2023, Chinese PV mounting companies actively participated in major global exhibitions, accelerating their overseas market expansion.

At Intersolar Europe 2023 (Munich, Germany), Antai New Energy showcased its flagship tracking products, full‑scenario fixed mount solutions, and the new solar roof design platform – SolarAID – under the theme “Empower the Future”. Powerway presented its intelligent PV tracking system, sloped roof mounting system, balcony mounting system, and multi‑purpose commercial PV system.

At All‑Energy Australia 2023 (Melbourne), Antai New Energy exhibited its flagship tracking system “Yuguang‑Simple”, the new SnapFit commercial and industrial rapid‑install system, and MetaRoof series roof products, drawing wide attention.

Intersolar South America 2023 (Brazil) was also an important platform for Antai to showcase its full range of roof products and advanced tracking systems, further enhancing its brand presence in Latin America.

Arctech Solar announced plans to gradually build overseas PV mounting structural component capacity in Saudi Arabia and Brazil. TrinaTracker, a subsidiary of Trina Solar, signed a supply agreement with PowerChina for tracking mounts for the Tepuy PV power station project in Colombia, further expanding its overseas market presence.

VI. Industry Challenges and Safety Alerts

In 2023, the roof PV industry also faced notable issues. The National Energy Administration reported a case of substandard foundation hole quality for PV mounts in a 50 MW PV project, reflecting quality control issues in some projects.

In terms of installation safety, several accidents occurred during roof PV installation in 2023, including an electric shock incident in Lengshuijiang, Hunan, and a fall‑from‑height incident in Fengshun, Guangdong, sounding an alarm for industry safety. In addition, news reports highlighted issues such as roof eaves falling off after PV installation, underscoring the need for stricter attention to the safety of mounting systems in relation to building structures.