First Solar is going to the biggest producer of solar panels in the world despite having a solar panel technology which differs from almost all of its competitors.First Solar Solar Panels use Cadmium-Tellurium Thin Film Solar Technology while the majority of the Solar Industry uses Crystalline Silicon Technology.Despite the difference First Solar is the most valued solar stock in the world and has been for a long time.Despite stiff competition from the silicon technology and most of the thin film companies going bankrupt,First Solar has managed to hold on cutting costs and improving yields continuously.In fact First Solar Solar Panels have the lowest cost of production in the world.First Solar Solar Panels efficiency has also increased in the last few years such that First Solar is now targeting commercial segments of the market.Note First Solar earlier used to sell solar panels mostly to developers and utilities to build ground mounted solar panel farms where the lower efficiency of the Cd-Te solar panels did not matter.The reason is that in large solar farms space and area constraints are not there unlike in rooftops where the space is a major issue.
Solar Power in India is generating huge excitement with falling prices of Solar Power and government incentives under the JNNSM.However Subsidy of Home and Small Commercial Solar Energy Systems has not been big enough.Unlike Western Countries which are shifting their government subsidies towards smaller solar rooftop systems,the Indian government is supporting even larger solar panel plants.This will lead to only large investors,utilities and companies being left in the fray and lead to lesser competition.Also there is no support for rooftop solar which will help to broad base the reach of solar energy.A Policy which helps distributed solar like Germany will do much more to boost solar in the country than supporting massive solar plants that will only help large companies making the most of the taxpayer subsidies..Note Delhi is the only state in India which is giving primacy to rooftop solar systems and is in the process of announcing a capital subsidy soon.The reason may be that Delhi mostly consists of urban homes and they have little option.However there is a subsidy available for small home solar power systems though it is difficult to get and only possible for large corporates till now.
Germany till a couple of years was the home of the biggest solar panel manufacturers in the world.This was driven mainly by the German Renewable Energy Law (EEG) which is the most successful renewable energy subsidy in the world.The German Solar Market has become the biggest in the world for the last 2-3 years and an estimated 25 GW of solar panels would have been installed in Germany.Capitalizing on a large domestic market a number of solar companies like Q-Cells,Solarworld,Solon and others became the biggest in the world.However the rise of the Chinese solar panel manufactures has made these companies shrink with some of them like Q-Cells facing questions of survival.The prices of the Chinese solar panels has become lower than the costs of the German made solar modules putting the economic viability of the German solar panels in question.Though the quality of the German made solar panels is higher and some of the best solar panels in the world are produced by the Germans,the price differential has meant that Chinese have captured almost 70% of the global solar panel market leaving little for the German solar panel companies.The Italian Feed in Tariff Law Contio Energia 3 has given somewhat of a boost to the German solar panel makers as it gives higher subsidies for solar projects,farms using European based modules.However German solar panel producers are in a secular decline with most of them shifting their factories to Asia.Q-Cells and Bosch have set up big solar manufacturing facilities in Malaysia while Solarworld is doing so in the US.Another Big European Solar Producer REC is closing its factories in Norway while expanding it in Singapore.
Solar Panels have decreased dramatically in cost from about $800 in 2008 for a standard 200 Watt Solar Panel to about $300 which means more than a 50% decrease in costs.In these days when the price of electricity and energy is constantly increasing this is an amazing fact and the decreasing cost of Solar Energy has made it the biggest Advantage of using Energy from the Sun.Cheap Chinese Solar Panels can be now be bought as low as $250 in bulk which implies that you can easily buy a Solar Array of 10 Solar Panels for your home at a cost of as low as $2500 .While the initial investment may look high you can look at electricity savings for 25 years as Solar Energy requires NO FUEL and very little maintenance as well.Solar Panels are already ubiquitous in places like Germany and Italy which have strong government support programs called Feed in Tariffs.With prices of energy increasing and Global Warming,its a matter of time when Solar Panels become as common as Lights in your home and offices.Solar Panels Installation is normally done by a Solar Integrator or Installer who decides on which Solar Panels to Buy and Designs the Systems.But as an owner of a Solar Panel System you must have a good idea otherwise you might get cheated upon.
CNPV is one of the bigger Tier 2 Chinese solar panel manufacturers with its factories based in China.The company does not have a big presence in the retail solar panel market as it sells mainly to solar farm developers.However with solar roofs becoming more important as government focus their efforts on residential installations compared to utility installations,it a matter of time before CNPV becomes available through online and offline dealers for residential solar.Quality wise and price wise the company is comparable to the smaller Chinese solar panel producers like CEEG,Sunink,ET Solar and SunEarth.However it does not have the backing of a big parent group so there is the danger that the company may not be available to survive the solar glut which has seen the solar panel prices coming down by more than 50% in 2011.However given its listing on the NYSE and its recent order flow from big distributors,it looks unlikely that it will fail.
After Solar Panels,Solar Inverters are the second most crucial component of the overall solar system accounting for around 10% of the overall costs.Solar inverters connect the solar panels to the grid converting the DC to AC which is used by the grid.Note for off grid solar installations,solar inverters are required as most electrical devices need AC for their operation.There are both grid tied and non grid tied inverters available on the market.Solar inverters have become highly sophisticated with features like optimization and monitoring etc.The efficiency of solar inverters are a major factor in their purchase as well as the quality and reliability.Inverters comes in various sizes and can be as large as 1 MW for utility applications.Note unlike solar panels,solar inverter manufactures are much bigger in size with SMA Solar having a 40% global marketshare.