SunTech Power to Triple US Operations in One Year  E-mail
Written by Hank Green   
Sunday, 05 October 2008

Get used to seeing plans like this one. Now that the Solar Investment Tax Credit has been passed, every solar company in the world is going to be pushing like mad to help green-up America.

SunTech Power was the first to announce their plan, saying that they're going to triple their U.S. Operations with an aggressive push toward grid-level, residential and commercial installations. Helping them along will be EL Solutions, the company behind Google's solar plantation, which SunPower just acquired.

SunTech is betting on the United States becoming the world's largest market for their solar panels, which could easily happen in the next few years. Frankly, with all of that sunny desert in the South West, I can't believe we aren't the world's largest market yet. But government subsidies in Europe have kept the U.S. playing second fiddle.

But now, with prices dropping, and a nice fat subsidy of our own, we should be catching up pretty quick.

Via BusinessWeek


Comments (4)add
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written by Steve N. Lee , October 05, 2008
Yes, Hank, I was surprised that the America doesn't seem very big on solar.

I was over there in July. It was 111F in Nevada/Arizona - so it was kinda sunny! I didn't see any kind of solar installation anywhere. If a country has deserts, it's fair to assume it has a fair amount of sun all year round, isn't it? So, this was very puzzling.

Over the border in California it was a totally different story regarding green energy - wind farms absolutely everywhere. (But again, not much solar to be seen.)

Considering the enormous power demands America makes, it would be great if solar really took off as it could make a significant difference to emissions levels. With the credits and falling technology costs, there's really no reason why it shouldn't now.

Steve N. Lee
author of eco-blog http://www.lionsledbysheep.com
and suspense thriller 'What if...?'
...
written by audi , October 06, 2008
Yeah it's amazing that American states aren't self sufficient in renewables like solar. Is your country too dependent on cheap oil? Do ye think the falling price of oil will negatively affect the renewables bubble that hopefully comes?

And lastly, is solar still to inefficient or expensive? Germany has a massive solar industry - the roofs of huge farm houses in Bavaria are often covered in solar panels and there are enormous industrial solar plants there too.

I just wonder is solar still uncompetitive with oil in terms of price ? Unfortunately for free marketism I think it's necessary to show the Visible Hand of subsidies until the renewables industry gets a few strong roots.
So the money is still going overseas
written by Me , October 06, 2008
To bad the company is not a US owned company... We don't seem to have a grasp that when it comes to energy we need home grown solutions... I think it funny one of the largest solar projects in the us is owned by the Saudis... We make the energy here and pay them for it... WHAT THE %#%@!!!
Full Disclosure!
written by ME2 , October 07, 2008
Hopefully it can become general knowledge of who owns what company and we buy American!! Me, I can't agree with you more if we want to get out of this hole we are in we have to have home grown solutions with US owned companies!
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Hank Green
About the author:

Hank Green is the founder and chief geek at EcoGeek.org. Aside from being obsessed with saving the planet with technology, he loves to write and make videos. If you want to find out more about him, visit hankgreen.com

 
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