For those who have been watching from the sidelines, the solar industry has had its ups and downs over the past few years. For those who have been playing the game, it has been an exhilarating and terrifying rollercoaster ride that seems to have no end in sight. Regardless of your perspective on the need for alternative energy, what seems clear to both proponents and competitors is that the solar industry is at a crossroads.
Fueled in large measure by the one-year extension of the U.S. Treasury Department’s 1603 cash-grant program and the Department of Energy’s loan-guarantee program, 2011 was a memorable year for the solar industry in the United States. The market for installations grew by more than 109 percent from 2010 levels. In the last quarter of 2011 alone, new photovoltaic systems installed throughout the United States generated enough electricity to serve close to 600,000 homes. Utility installations also made an unprecedented rise in 2011, jumping by 325 percent from the second to the third quarter.
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