Earlier in the week I took a look at which brands of solar panels have been top choices for residential solar energy systems in California. We found that three manufacturers — SunPower, Sharp Solar and BP Solar — have accounted for about half of all residential solar energy systems, judging from the number of rebate applications received under California’s main solar incentive program.

The data reviewed on Tuesday go all the way back to 2006, when that incentive program — the California Solar Initiative — was launched. I suggested at the end of my previous post that a peek at more recent numbers only would reveal “a rise in the number of installations from manufacturers like Suntech Power, Canadian Solar and Trina Solar relative to makers like Evergreen Solar and SolarWorld.”

Well, here’s what the numbers look like since 2010:

As you can see, I was partly right…

• Suntech Power and Canadian Solar seem to have made some progress. The number of applications for systems using panels from Trina Solar, however, doesn’t seem to increased much.
• SolarWorld appears to be holding steady, while BP Solar has fallen considerably from third place overall (2006 to present) to sixth (2010 to present).
• SunPower and Sharp continue to lead the pack, and, along with Kyocera Solar, still accounted for nearly half (46%) of all residential solar rebate applications since 2010.
• Evergreen Solar’s share of applications, meanwhile, has dwindled considerably. This isn’t that surprising, given the manufacturer’s continuing troubles.
• One last solar manufacturer to note is Yingli Green Energy, which ranked ninth overall (2006 to present) but is in fifth place over the 2010-to-present timeline.

Bottom line: while there are scores of solar panel makers out there, a handful of big players maintain considerable market share. And, generally speaking, it appears that China-based manufacturers — like Yingli and Suntech — are continuing to make inroads into the California residential solar market.