Solar Hits Boom Time, but Where Have All the Panels Gone?

Sep 07 - In Business

With a growing demand for solar power in the U.S., there are major back orders for photvoltaic panels due to a weak dollar and raw material shortages. Solar manufacturers say that the solar market has grown roughly 40 percent annually in the last five years, helped a lot by rising demand in Germany. At the end of 2004, Japan was estimated to have the greatest total solar power at 1,100 megawatts, followed by Germany (790 mw) and the U.S. with 300 megawatts. Says Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association: The solar energy industry is diverse and will meet the challenges the market presents.

California - along with other states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut - provides subsidies to solar power users. California has also passed a bill that would put solar power in half of new homes within 13 years. The recently passed U.S. energy bill provides installation incentives for solar power. But it's still a wait-and- see time for solar installation companies. Says the owner of a company in Penobscot, Maine in an Aug. 5, 2005 New York Times article: "For all the years I've been doing this (solar installation), I could get all the solar panels in the world and no customers. Now I have all the customers in the world and no product."