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The state of the solar industry

by Samuel Dixon

Despite the recessionary environment, the solar industry is still very upbeat. After attending the last two annual Solar Power Conferences, I noticed an excitement similar to the computer PC industry in the early 1980s. The attendance at this solar conference doubled from 10,000 in 2007 to about 20,000 in 2008. It is sort of like Comdex, the trade show of the PC industry which eventually got too big and blew itself out.

The solar industry itself, though still very small, with only about one half of one percent of homes solarized, is expected to grow, with as much as 80% of power coming from solar in the next couple of decades. Just as today most people have computers and internet connections, tomorrow most people will likely have solar.

The two biggest stars of the show were the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who joked that he would soon put solar panels on his Hummer (which may not be a joke) and US senator Maria Cantwell, who pushed the solar Federal Tax credit initiative through, which should bring more cash infusion into the industry. Cantwell received the National Solar Energy Champion Award for her work and leadership in Congress to pass an eight year extension of the solar tax credits as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Congress passed the full 30% solar tax credit for both commercial and residential consumers on October 3, 2008, and the President signed the bill into law that afternoon.

Solar Power 2009 Expo will be changed from San Jose to Anaheim, California because it requires more space and accommodations, due to its rapid growth. Perhaps in another ten years it will be too big for itself. For now, let me review the highlights from the 420 exhibitors and diverse range of lectures and symposiums that took place in San Diego last October.

GERMAN EFFICIENCY A German lecturer explained that in Germany they stream line solar by eliminating compliance bureaucracy to effectuate an install in a few weeks with minimal paperwork. They enable up to 1000 Volts DC lines on the solar systems compared to 640 Volts DC in the US. They use transformerless inverters and they use plastic frames without the need for grounding.

NEW SOLAR PANELS New solar panels were presented, including solar integrated into roof tiles, flexible thin film that can be rolled up and used on tents and other fabric applications, and large 300 watt solar panels which are 50% bigger than the conventional panel size of 32 inches by 60 inches.

NEW INVERTERS AND MONITORING SYSTEMS Enphase showed new lightweight inverters that install with the solar panels on the roof so that the DC voltage is immediately converted to AC. And you can track the performance of each panel rather than being limited to only being able to monitor strings of panels, because they are wired in series and then connected to large inverters typically sitting in a garage taking up wall space. New online monitoring systems are also available so you can access information about your solar system online.

For more detailed information about the seminars that took place, visit www.conferencearchives.com/sepa/spi2008/

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