U.S. Senate votes to extend solar, R&D tax credits; SEIA applauds move - 23 September 2008
Solar module price erosion to cause industry fall-out, says Lux Research - 02 October 2008
Moser Baer raises funds for silicon solar and thin film production expansion - 23 September 2008
U.S. House recesses, fails to pass tax bill, leaving solar, R&D credits in doubt - 29 September 2008
REC sold out of wafers for 2010 with $450 million order from Neo Solar Power - 30 September 2008
Timminco updates solar-grade silicon operations, sees production of 1200-1500 metric tons in 2008 - 06 October 2008
Hague signs letter of intent to buy assets of quantum-dot PV cell company Solterra - 06 October 2008
Ogilvy PR lands SunPower global account - 06 October 2008
Xcel’s North Shore Headquarters Selects Hoku Solar - 06 October 2008
Solar cells use old material in new way - 06 October 2008
According to the Annual PV Industry report from Solarbuzz LLC, worldwide solar photovoltaic (PV) market installations reached a new record of 2,826MW in 2007, representing a 62 percent increase compared to 2006.
Worldwide PV production reached 3,436 MW in 2007, up from 2,204 MW in 2006, which represents a 56 percent increase for 2007. Polysilicon production did not keep pace with production expansions in 2007, growing only 30 percent, even though 21 new companies entered the polysilicon market in 2007. According to Solarbuzz, polysilicon remained the most capacity-constrained element of the PV supply chain in 2007.
Chinese PV manufacturers raised their market share to 35 percent in 2007, up from 20 percent in 2006, according to Solarbuzz. However, it was Japanese PV manufacturers that saw market shares decline, coming in at only 26 percent of worldwide production in 2007.
On a regional basis, Germany's PV market reached 1,328MW in 2007, accounting for 47 percent of the world market, and the largest in the world. Spain climbed to second, a growth of over 480 percent reaching 640MW.
Japan, once the world leader, saw PV installations decline 23 percent in 2007 compared to 2006, reaching 230MW. USA saw its market increase 57 percent to 220MW in 2007.
Thin film production more than doubled in 2007, according to Solarbuzz, reaching 400 MW in 2007, compared to 181MW in 2006 and now accounts for 12 percent of total PV production.
