Solar Has Breakout Year

SustainableBusiness.com News

 In 2011, solar busted out all over the world, soaring 54% to 28 gigawatts (GW), driven by record installations in Germany and Italy, reports Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

"The year was on the high side of even bullish estimates," says Jenny Chase of Bloomberg New Energy. "We think 2012 will be about flat, as European markets have overshot targets and spending caps and plan to rein back severely."

The astounding growth came from crashing solar prices and a rush among developers to get as much solar installed before subsidy cuts in EU's biggest markets, Germany, Italy and the UK. Governments couldn't afford the above-market rates they offer under their feed-in (FiT) laws for such a huge number of installations. 
Yesterday, we reported that investment in solar jumped 36% to $136.6 billion in 2011, outpacing the $74.9 billion put into wind power, and representing almost half of all renewable energy investment worldwide last year. 

Germany installed a record at 7.5 GW in 2011. Compare that to the US, who also hit a record 1.7 GW, a rise of 88%.

Read the rest