Solar Powered UAV Market

Typically developed for defense requirements, UAVs are rapidly expanding their reach to commercial, industrial, scientific, recreational, agricultural, and other applications. Over the past few years, the UAV industry has been tremendously influenced by copious changes in technology. UAVs are now being propelled using solar energy. Few companies are using this technology to develop UAVs with enhanced range and endurance for surveillance and related purposes, while, others are focusing on utilizing them to beam internet connectivity across the world. In either case, there is a huge scope for the solar powered UAV market in the near future. Moreover, the end-users are exploring new and different possibilities, right from using them for delivering goods to monitoring glaciers in Polar Regions, tackling the refugee crisis, and so on.

Factors such as advancement in battery and solar cell technology, economies of scale, improved endurance with enhanced flight range, falling costs, and focus on environmental conservation have made solar UAVs as a suitable type of UAV for commercial applications. Meanwhile, weather dependency of solar powered UAVs, rising UAV incidents, and absence of tighter regulations are hindering the market growth. However, the growing recognition of the significance of solar powered UAVs usage in the renewable energy sector and focus on enhancing connectivity solutions offers a huge opportunity for the market.

The global solar powered UAV market is estimated to witness 14.38% CAGR during the forecast period, 2017-2023. In 2016, the market was led by North America with 34.90% share, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific with shares of 29.24% and 25.59%, respectively. The Asia Pacific region is becoming a lucrative region for the firms that provide solar powered UAVs, due to the significant demand form both defense and commercial sectors in countries such as China and South Korea.

The global solar powered UAV market has been segmented based on application, type, component, and region. In terms of application, Defense segment accounted for the largest market share of 61.53% in 2016, with a market value of USD 365.3 million, which is projected to witness a CAGR of 13.96% during the forecast period. In terms of component, propulsion system segment accounted for the largest market share of 40.18% in 2016, with a market value of USD 238.5 million, which is projected to witness a CAGR of 14.21%.