Solar Power Blossoming
Jan 5, 2009 – It seems that solar energy is always the new technology to sustain our power needs. Bell Labs, part of Alcatel-Lucent and for most of its history the research arm of AT&T [Ma Bell] lists solar cells as one of the top 10 innovations from their facility since they were founded in 1925. While there were theories and activities to harness the sun’s energy dating back to the 1800s, Bell Labs, in 1954, was the first to actually build a device that used the sun’s power to create practical amount of electricity. Now that President-elect Barack Obama has made renewable energy a major part of his stimulus package and Congress has already extended a 30% investment tax credit for 8 years green energy proponents are hoping that solar energy will finally blossom. We certainly need it. The US Department of Energy [DOE] projects that the US will require 386 GW of new electricity generation by 2015. Venture capital invested over $12 billion in 2007 in solar companies. The PV industry received $17.2 billion in revenue in 2007 with market growth of 62%. The US represented just 8% of worldwide PV sales, but it did grow by 57% in 2007. First Solar stock continues to rebound, especially as the price of oil has begun to move up again based upon the Mideast fighting. Please provide your comments on the direction and growth of the solar market in the US and globally.
