Solar panel market in 2010
The sales of solar power panel were 5.6GW in 2008, which is up 48 percent. In 2008 3.3GW or 60% solar panel sales was produced in Asia. And about 1.5GW solar energy panel sales was produced in Europe. Only 750MW solar power panel sales was produced in the United States.
The downturn of alternative energy (green energy, renewable power) happened in 2009, and the manufacturing capacity utilisation was below 50%, which is similar to the semiconductor-for-IT industry. But in 2010 the solar panel market is picking up again, may be up to 48%, reaches 10.5GW of newly installed photovoltaic (PV) systems. The thin-film solar cell sector, including amorphous silicon, CdTe and CIGS, is expected to represent less than 20% of the solar energy market in 2010.
The strong growth of solar energy, even green energy (renewable power, alternative power) is expected in the next few years. In fact the governments of different countries have already invested in the technologies in solar energy. For example,in 2009 the Chinese government announced what some industry analysts called the most aggressive and generous solar power subsidy in the world, giving Chinese solar companies a big market boost amid a generally gloomy outlook for short-term growth. (refer to http://www.inverter-china.com/blog/articles/green-energy/Huge-solar-subsidies-China.html)
