High profile bankruptcies at Solyndra and Evergreen, both panel manufacturers, create the false impression of an imploding solar industry in the US. Solar jobs in the US actually grew 6.8% from August 2010 to August 2011 when compared to prior period and now total 100,237.
The foregoing numbers come from the Solar Foundation that conducts an annual job census and is releasing tomorrow its full report. See http://www.solarfoundation.org/.
For the same period, jobs in the USA grew 0.7% so the solar industry remains a bright spot in a struggling economy.
Solar jobs are growing and solar installations are booming. Solar installations during 2011 in the USA will smash the 2010 record that in turn smashed the 2009 record that smashed the record in 2008 and so on. Close to 2,000 megawatts of solar power will be installed in America this year.
Globally 2011 will be another big year for solar installations and possibly a record year. Total global installations are expected to be between 15,000 and 20,000 megawatts in 2011.
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