Record Growth for Solar Industry

Despite the overall troubled state of the U.S. economy, the forecast for the domestic solar industry is bright. In the last three years, installed solar capacity - spurred by advances in technology, government incentives, and tax credits - has experienced record growth. In 2008, capacity grew by a record 17 percent and analysts suggest that 2009 will see even higher growth rates.

Record growth in the midst of the worst economy since the Great Depression is a testament to the viability and strength of solar as a source of clean renewable energy, and as a catalyst for job creation and economic growth. Increasing demand for solar facilities, whether large concentrated solar plants or residential rooftop units, has also spurred domestic and foreign companies to open solar manufacturing facilities near solar hotbeds around the country.

New Mexico and California, states with abundant solar resources, have recently seen their efforts to promote solar power attract production facilities. In New Mexico, two major solar companies, Schott Solar and Signet Solar, are investing up to $400 million and $800 million respectively in new manufacturing facilities and at full capacity will collectively employ about 1,800 workers. Schott Chairman Udo Ungeheuer called the U.S. the "sleeping giant” of solar explaining that the U.S. receives enough solar energy every day to power the entire world for a year.

In California, Solyndra Energy announced its own plans to build a production plant that will create 3,000 construction jobs and more than 1,000 plant positions once the facility begins operations.

As the U.S. solar market grows, it is expected to employ more than 440,000 people by the year 2016 – more than two-and-a-half times as much as the coal industry. It’s also a limitless clean energy source that will promote energy independence and contribute to lessening the damages of climate change.