Market Size (2017)
2017
$678.60M
Vertical: AnDBase Year: 20169 Sections
Market Size (2017)
2017
$678.60M
Projected (2023)
2023
$1.52B
CAGR (2017–2023)
14.4%
14.4%Key Players
105+
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%. Furthermore, in terms of type, the fixed-wing segment accounted for the largest market share of 20.15% in 2016, with a market value of USD 475.8 million, which is projected to witness a CAGR of 14.60% during the forecast period
The Solar Powered UAV Market market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.4% from 2017 to 2023.
Historical performance and future projections (2020–2030, USD Billion)
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View Subscription PlansSolar powered unmanned aerial vehicles also termed as solar powered UAVs or solar powered drones, are airborne vehicles that utilize solar energy for propulsion. These vehicles are piloted by operators using remote control or autonomously by onboard computers. Companies developing solar powered UAVs are mainly targeting the connectivity, agriculture, infrastructure & landscape monitoring, and utility sector. Currently, only a handful of countries are developing solar powered UAVs and a limited number of end-users are procuring it. However, aspects such as beneficial features of these UAVs coupled with its capability to cater a wide range of applications are expected to generate tremendous demand in the next couple of years.
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View Subscription PlansResearch Process
Market Research Future research is conducted by industry experts who offer insight into industry structure, market segmentation, source assessment, competitive landscape, penetration, and emerging trends. Besides primary interviews (~ 80%) and secondary research (~ 20%), the analysis is based on their years of professional expertise in respective industries. Our analysts also predict where the market will be headed in the next five to ten years, by analyzing historical trends and current market positions. Furthermore, the varying trends of segments & categories geographically presented are studied and are estimated based on primary & secondary research.
Primary Research
Extensive primary research was conducted to gain a deeper insight of the market and industry performance. In this particular report, we have conducted primary surveys (interviews) with the key level executives (VP, CEOs, Marketing Director, Business Development Manager, and many more) of the major players who are active in the market. In addition to analyzing the current and historical trends, our analysts predict where the market is headed, over the next five to ten years.
Secondary Research
Secondary research was mainly used to collect and identify information useful for extensive, technical, market-oriented, and commercial study of the solar powered UAV market. It was also used to obtain key information about major players, market classification, and segmentation according to the industry trends, geographical markets, and developments related to the market. For this study, analysts have gathered information from various credible sources, such as annual reports, SEC filings, journals, white papers, corporate presentations, company websites, international organization of chemical manufacturers, some paid databases, and others.
Market Size Estimation
Both top-down and bottom-up approaches were used to estimate and validate the size of the market and to estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets of the overall solar powered UAV market. The key players in the market were identified through secondary research, and their market contributions in the respective geographies were determined through primary and secondary research. This entire procedure included the study of the annual and financial reports of top market players and extensive interviews for key insights with industry leaders such as CEOs, VPs, directors, and marketing executives. All percentage share splits, and breakdowns were determined using secondary sources and verified through primary sources. All the possible parameters that affect the market have been covered in this research study have been accounted for, viewed in extensive detail, verified through primary research, and analyzed to get the final quantitative and qualitative data. This data has been consolidated and added with detailed inputs and analysis from market research future and has been presented in this report. The following figure shows an illustrative representation of the overall market size estimation process employed for this study.
Base Year
2016
Historical Period
2017 – 2016
Forecast Period
2016 – 2023
Primary Interviews
150+
Historical data (2017–2016) and forecast period (2016–2023)
Our research process spans primary interviews with industry stakeholders combined with comprehensive secondary data analysis, validated through triangulation across multiple independent sources.
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View Subscription PlansThreat of New Entrants
Although there is high growth potential in the market, factors such as the requirement of huge investments and formation of a client base deter the entry of new vendors in the market to a certain extent. Moreover, the market has well-established players with wide geographic reach. It is difficult for new entrants to attain the economies of scale, which the leading players already possess. Therefore, the new entrants present a very low threat to the major stakeholders of the market.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Suppliers include manufacturers of solar panels, sensors, and related components. The offerings they provide have to go through stringent regulatory and review process and should be suitable for airborne applications, which limits the number of key suppliers in the market. However, the suppliers have an edge over the buyers in terms of their product offering and pricing, which assist the companies in increasing their market presence and provide them higher leverage. Thus, the bargaining power of suppliers in the market is moderate.
Bargaining Power of Buyers
Buyers can be broadly categorized as military and commercial end-users. Since solar powered UAV is in the nascent stage, only a handful of players are offering this equipment. However, many startups are working on developing customized and COTS products. However, the buyers dictate the specification and type of solution required, which makes their bargaining power moderate.
Threat of Substitutes
Though solar powered UAVs offer more flight time and ensure fewer emissions, there are various other types of UAVs available in the market such as the electric and fuel powered ones. Certain types are also much cheaper to procure. Thus, the threat of substitutes in the solar powered UAV market is deemed to be high.
Intensity of Rivalry
There is intense competition among the existing players in the market, with the vendors investing heavily and using extensive research and development to develop high quality, advanced, and cost-effective solar powered UAV solutions. Thus, the intensity of rivalry in the market is high.
Market estimates by geography (2023)
InsightNorth America leads with $544.10M by 2023, while Asia Pacific is projected to grow fastest at a 15.8% CAGR.
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View Subscription Plans| REGION | 2017 | 2016 | 2023 | CAGR | SHARE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia Pacific | $175.70M | $272.40M | $423.00M | 15.8% | 28% |
| Rest of the World | $68.60M | $97.00M | $136.00M | 12.1% | 9% |
| Europe | $196.60M | $286.00M | $416.70M | 13.3% | 27% |
| North America | $237.70M | $359.30M | $544.10M | 14.8% | 36% |
| Total | $678.60M | $1.01B | $1.52B | 14.4% | 100% |
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View Subscription PlansTotal Market Size
$1.52B
| APPLICATION | REVENUE ($B) | GROWTH RATE | MARKET PENETRATION |
|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | $911.30M | 14.4% | 72% |
| Commercial | $608.60M | 14.4% | 67% |
* Revenue projections based on 2025 estimates. Growth rates represent CAGR 2024–2030. Market penetration indicates current adoption rate within addressable market segments.
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Analytical insights on Solar Powered UAV Market covering market dynamics, competitive landscape, and strategic outlook.
The Solar Powered UAV Market market is projected to reach $1.52B by 2023, growing at 14.4% CAGR. The Defense segment holds the largest share.
Supply Chain
The supply chain of the solar powered UAV market is significantly different from any other consumer commodity. The focus of firms is not on how to manufacture the UAVs, but on the end-to-end supply chain of these products, specifically from production to the point it reaches the end-users.
Various players such as component (sensor, antenna) manufacturers, raw material and equipment providers, guidance, navigation, and communication solution providers, among others are present in the supply chain, and the final product requires value addition from all the above-mentioned players.
Apart from that, some firms are tasked with guiding and training the end-users for efficient use of the products. Regulatory agencies also play a key role in the solar powered UAV market.
Few companies such as Facebook, Google among others are developing UAVs in-house as a tool for augmenting their main businesses.
After various successful applications and over a period of growth and innovation in the military segment, there has been a significant shift and increase of market dynamics towards the wider use of UAVs in the commercial sector. Government agencies, industries, and other organizations are all actively gaging the prospect for UAVs to disrupt the market and create new and innovative business models. For instance, in 2016, FAA registered nearly 300,000 UAV owners within the first month after it opened its registration site. UAVs nowadays find application in various sectors, including but not limited to agriculture, disaster response, real estate, education, meteorology, tourism, utilities, construction & mining, maritime, and media. Moreover, companies such as Amazon, UPS, Google, and other delivery service providers are experimenting with UAVs for home delivery of goods. Meanwhile, 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, which is driving the global market for solar powered UAVs.
Renewable energy is generated from non-depleting energy sources, such as sunlight and wind. Factors including rising energy demand, growing concern towards reducing carbon footprint & decreasing dependence on fossil fuels, and increasing focus on meeting the renewable energy mandates are necessitating the use of renewable energy sources for power generation. For instance, more than 85% of new power generation capacity built across the European Union in 2016 was from renewables. Moreover, the world clean energy investment in 2017 totaled to USD 333.5 billion, which is 3% more than the 2016 value.
UAVs are becoming an integral part of the renewable energy sector as they are being used mainly for inspections over large sites. In the solar industry, UAVs can be employed for site surveying and PV system monitoring, among others. Similarly, in the wind industry, UAVs can be used for blade inspection and other purposes. For instance, utilities such as Duke Energy are testing usage of UAVs for solar panel inspection to detect malfunctions and enable faster repairs. Thus, the growing recognition of the significance of UAVs in the renewable energy sector is a huge opportunity for the UAV market and the solar powered UAVs as well.
The solar powered UAVs are expanding their reach into the areas of agriculture, aerial photography, surveillance, and so on. When compared to conventional UAVs, solar powered ones have various beneficial features, such as lightweight structure and components, more endurance, and less operational costs. However, the main shortcoming is that the solar powered UAVs (the small ones used in the commercial and civil sector) require clear weather and adequate sunlight for efficient running. Thus, clear weather dependency could hinder the market growth to a certain extent. However, new technologies are being developed to extend the battery life to increase flight hours during non-sunlight hours.
Over the past few years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of UAVs for commercial applications, such as pipeline monitoring, utility asset inspection, agriculture, and surveying. Moreover, since the UAVs are becoming more affordable, it is nowadays being used for recreational purposes by hobbyists for aerial photography and other purposes. However, with the increasing use of UAVs in the commercial sector, the civilian UAV incidents are also rising. For instance, according to the FAA, in 2016, more than 600 UAVs flew dangerously close to manned aircraft and airports.
UAVs pose collision and crash risks and raises fear among the public of jetliner impact catastrophe, terrorist attack, assassination, and privacy infringement. Furthermore, there is a lack of elaborate UAV regulations in many countries and lack of details & clarity among the UAV operators raises concerns related to public safety. Thus, the rising UAV incidents and absence of tighter regulations is a significant challenge for the market.
Near-term growth will likely concentrate in modular bioreactor lines and closed-system media workflows that shorten validation cycles while preserving batch traceability.
Partnerships between CDMOs and instrumentation vendors should accelerate standard datasets for comparability across sites, improving forecasting models used in capacity planning.
Longer horizon, organoid and microphysiological adoption may reshape segment mix; teams that invest early in assay interoperability and cloud QC hooks are better positioned to capture upside without fragmenting their analytics stack.
Profiles of 105 companies operating in the Solar Powered UAV Market market, including revenue, employee count, and market positioning where available.
Showing 105 of 105 companies
Sunlight Photonics Inc.
Company Headquarters: New Jersey, U.S. Founded: 2007 Workforce: –NA– Company Working: Sunlight Photonics Inc. (Sunlight Photonics) is engaged in developing solar airborne communications systems and services. It mainly focuses on developing Sunfleets – clusters of solar UAVs with robust airframe designs, lightweight PV power, and distributed communication payloads. In addition to that, the company also provides custom firmware and software to manage flight control, power management, and communications, and multi-functional skins for UAVs. The company’s solar UAVs are used for wireless communications, precision agriculture, land surveys, wildfire and wildlife monitoring, border patrol, and other applications. The company has been granted 43 U.S. Patents and 7 European patents in the areas of solar UAV, free-space optical communication, PV and related topics.
Sunbirds
Company Headquarters: Labège, France. Founded: 2015 Workforce: –NA– Company Working: Sunbirds is a France-based manufacturer of solar powered UAVs. The company was formed by three engineers from the Airbus and Thales group. It also offers Ground Control Software (GCS) and Manual Radio Control. The company has resellers in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Australia.
Silent Falcon UAS Technologies
Company Headquarters: New Mexico, U.S. Founded: 2010 Workforce: –NA– Company Working: Silent Falcon UAS Technologies (Silent Falcon) was established as a subsidiary of Bye Aerospace, Inc. in 2010. The company manufactures and exports advanced unmanned aircraft systems, and has expertise in sensor technology, solar power, RF communications, alternative materials, component design and aerodynamics. The company’s offerings are suitable for oil & gas pipeline monitoring, energy & utilities, precision agriculture crop monitoring, military ISR missions/security/surveillance, disaster relief, mapping/surveying, natural resource management, real estate, law enforcement, news/media, mining/construction, and film production applications. The company has its distribution facilities in the U.S., Ukraine, Colombia, Malaysia, India, and Chile.
Thales Group
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AIRBUS SAS
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Anuvu
Company Headquarters: US Founded: 2011 Workforce: ~ 1700 Company Working: Anuvu is a company that provides high-speed connectivity and entertainment solutions for demanding worldwide mobility markets, such as airlines, cruise lines, and maritime, energy and government applications. The company operates its business in two main segments which are, Connectivity and Content. Anuvu’s Connectivity segment offers a range of products and services that enable secure and efficient data transfer between satellite networks and wireless devices, such as the Anuvu Constellation Operating System (ACOS), the webCS Wireless Aircraft Communications Server, the webFB Smart Aircraft Interface Device, and the Ballard Technology AID. Anuvu’s Content segment provides entertainment solutions for worldwide airline, ship, and non-theatrical markets, such as movies, TV shows, games, music, and magazines. Anuvu has its primary offices in the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, the Middle East, India, and Asia. The company has recently secured a major capacity deal with Telesat, providing Anuvu with 10 Gigabits of Ka-band capacity over the Southeastern US, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and Central America. This deal is part of Anuvu’s Bridge to LEO strategy, which aims to seamlessly integrate LEO and GEO satellite capability using ACOS3. Anuvu’s partnership with Telesat will allow Anuvu customers to access the Telesat Lightspeed LEO network, which offers high-capacity, low-latency, and global coverage for mobility markets.
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Solar Powered UAV Market