Solarbuzz Reports United States and Spain in Close Race for "World Number 3" PV Market

[jpak]

http://www.solarbuzz.com/News/NewsNACO577.htm

Rapid growth in the Spanish photovoltaic (PV) market in 2007 will see this country challenge the United States as the world's third largest PV market this year. This is one of the conclusions evident from a comparison of two new PV Market reports issued by Solarbuzz LLC today.

The Spanish market has grown rapidly over the past 12 months, rising from just 35 megawatts in 2005 to 110 megawatts in 2006. This growth has been a function of the Royal Decree 436/2004 Law which set up the original Feed In tariff structure and currently includes direct incentives for solar electricity of up to €0.44/kWh paid for 25 years.

According to Solarbuzz's list of Spanish PV projects in the pipeline, there are no less than 230 megawatts under development in the large system size category. The 2007 Spanish market size is now estimated to fall in the range of 200 - 280 megawatts, the wide range being a function of the pace of installation of these large projects, some individually between 10 - 20 megawatts in size.

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Meanwhile, the United States PV market is also set on its own impressive expansion path. The US market reached a size of 140 megawatts in 2006. With strong growth in both California and New Jersey, together with large projects under construction in Nevada and Colorado, the latest forecast for the US market size is between 204 - 235 megawatts in 2007. The US market will deliver very strong performance in the Commercial, Government and Utility segments in 2007.

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[kestrel91316]

1. We're Number One! We're Number One!! Rah rah rah!!!!

Oops.

Nevermind.