German solar industry sees sales doubling by 2010
June 11th, 2008 | by admin |ZURICH, June 11 (Reuters) - The German solar energy industryhas earmarked investments of more than 7 billion euros ($10.9billion) for the next three years and expects to almost doublesales by 2010, the industry association BSW said on Wednesday.
The industry aims to speed up the innovation process andwants to further expand production facilities with theinvestment, BSW said in a statement.
Sales are seen rising to more than 13 billion euros in 2010from about 7 billion last year, with about half expected to comefrom outside Germany, it added.
The industry is riding on a wave of demand for green energyas the oil price hits ever-higher prices — recently above $139a barrel — and governments across the world drum up support foralternative energy generation.
Last year, about 200,000 solar panels to generate heat andelectricity were installed on German rooftops, driving theoverall figure up to 1.5 million, the association said.
Solon (SOOG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) is one of Germany’s largest solar modulemakers, along with SolarWorld (SWVG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) — which also makeswafers and cells — and smaller peer Aleo Solar (AS1Gn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research). (Reporting by Eva Kuehnen, editing by Will Waterman)
