Searching for the Next Big Solar Power

With solar subsidies starting to dwindle in Spain and Germany no longer the world’s solar poster child, the search for the next big solar power—in terms of both market and production—has been going on ever since Germany slashed its subsidies. There are of course the usual heavyweights, such as the U.S. and Japan, and developing countries such as China and India. This article from BusinessWeek joins the foray as it makes a case for and suggests ways for the Philippines to become a solar power.

Already home to several large solar manufacturing facilities belonging to Silicon Valley-based photovoltaic giants such as SunPower and Solaria, with exports from SunPower alone totaling $220 million in 2006, the Philippines is one of many sun-drenched countries positioned to benefit from solar energy. It already has both on-grid and off-grid solar projects in the works—the latter particularly important, as country consists of 7,100 islands, many of which are not connected to the grid. The Philippine Congress also recently passed a renewable energy bill which includes investment incentives such as tax credits and net metering. Dennis Posadas, the author of the piece, posits that the country’s solar sector could grow substantially if industry and academe increased collaboration, a viewpoint that seems to be validated worldwide by the sheer number of results that appear when you Google “solar power university.”

But perhaps the next big solar power is right in our own backyard—or, rather, we are living in it. Many industry experts, both from home and from abroad, have pinpointed the U.S. as the biggest user of solar energy within the next decade—and with such a burgeoning American solar market, manufacturing jobs appear to be trickling back in.