{"id":4320,"date":"2009-03-24T19:50:24","date_gmt":"2009-03-25T01:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4320"},"modified":"2009-03-24T19:50:24","modified_gmt":"2009-03-25T01:50:24","slug":"bright-horizons-for-solar-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/bright-horizons-for-solar-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Bright Horizons for Solar Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/files\/2009\/03\/panels-on-poles-copy.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4321\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/files\/2009\/03\/panels-on-poles-copy.jpg\" alt=\"Ground Mounted Solar Modules\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/a>Last year was a bright spot for the solar industry, despite dark economic clouds and forecasts that rolled in\u00a0during 2008\u2019s final few months.<\/h3>\n<h3><a title=\"Solar Legislation from Ecopreneurist\" href=\"http:\/\/ecoscraps.com\/2008\/06\/01\/hawaii-law-requires-all-new-homes-install-solar-hot-water-heaters\/\" target=\"_self\">SEIA<\/a> (Solar Energy Industries Association) just released its yearly <a title=\"2008 SEIA Report\" href=\"http:\/\/www.seia.org\/galleries\/pdf\/2008_Year_in_Review-small.pdf\" target=\"_self\">review<\/a>, which identified 2008 as the third in a string of record growth years.<\/h3>\n<p>The numbers were for the US solar market, with a highlight of 1,265 megawatts (MW) of new installed solar power. The figure includes all forms of the energy resource, from photovoltaic (PV) to home and water heating.\u00a0PV modules accounted for 342 MW of that total. A conversion formula is used to express solar heating capacity in an electrical equivalent.<\/p>\n<p>Returns on investment for solar electric installations typically take\u00a0longer than heating applications.\u00a0Yet while thermal power has comprised the lion\u2019s share of the solar market since 2000, the percentage of PV growth for the same period has been greater and more stable.<\/p>\n<p>States also made strides last year\u00a0in terms of solar legislation. Already a leader in the solar hot water arena, <a title=\"Hawaii Solar Hot Water from Ecoscraps\" href=\"http:\/\/ecoscraps.com\/2008\/06\/01\/hawaii-law-requires-all-new-homes-install-solar-hot-water-heaters\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hawaii<\/a> further bolstered that title last year when it began requiring that all new construction include the technology.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->The solar industry has not been immune from the economic slowdown, of course. A recent survey revealed almost nine in ten solar companies reported they&#8217;d been affected by the downturn. The trend among installers showed they are receiving about the same number of inquiries about solar, but fewer of those are translating into actual installations since the economy soured.<\/p>\n<p>With a slew of government laws and incentives passed from late 2008 to the present favoring the industry, the only seeming obstacle to a US solar renaissance is a dour economic outlook.\u00a0 Regardless, the future for solar appears strong.<\/p>\n<p>Two massive solar installations are underway in the US &#8211; the 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm and the 250 MW California Valley Solar Ranch. When finished, they will take titles as the\u00a0world\u2019s largest.<\/p>\n<p>Image Credit: Richard Masoner&#8217;s\u00a0<a title=\"Richard Masoner Photo Gallery\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/bike\/3238669943\/\" target=\"_blank\">Flickr Photostream<\/a> under a Creative Commons License.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last year was a bright spot for the solar industry, despite dark economic clouds and forecasts that rolled in\u00a0during 2008\u2019s final few months. SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association) just released&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":4321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,7],"tags":[272,316,52,6],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bright Horizons for Solar Industry &#8226; Sustainablog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/bright-horizons-for-solar-industry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bright Horizons for Solar Industry &#8226; Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last year was a bright spot for the solar industry, despite dark economic clouds and forecasts that rolled in\u00a0during 2008\u2019s final few months. 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