From WRAL (Raleigh N.C.):
Predicting a three-fold growth in the solar industry in the next four years, analyst firm BCC Research has released a report with detailed predictions for some specific sectors of the solar market.
Cleantech has gotten plenty of press lately, with pundits predicting both booms and busts. Venture investment in the overall sector grew 48 percent year-over-year to reach $2.6 billion in 2007.
BCC estimates that the world market for solar photovoltaics will grow at a third that rate, averaging about 15 percent each year until 2013. However, some specific technologies will see stronger growth than others.
Thin film cell manufacturers such as Nanosolar and Heliovolt, for example, will grow some 45 percent each year. Use of multicrystalline silicon in standard photovoltaics, meanwhile, will grow at 285 percent annually, rapidly taking over the market share of more efficient, but also much more expensive, single-crystal silicon....MORE
