The U.S. solar energy industry is having its best year ever, yet financing remains scarce for the billion-dollar projects needed for America's solar sector to gain ground on global leaders such as Germany.
For the U.S. solar industry to ramp up from a rooftop add-on technology to the scale of fossil fuel power plants, the country needs to build large plants covering hundreds of acres. Each can cost upward of $1 billion, a huge sum for the nascent industry to finance, even with U.S. government incentives.
Just last week, doubts arose about the largest thermal solar plant under development, the 1 GW plant proposed in Blythe, California, by Solar Trust of America, a partnership of Solar Millennium AG and Ferrostaal AG.
The company warned its federal loan-guarantee application was taking longer than expected.
U.S. solar sales are on track to reach about 1 GW in 2010, equivalent to one nuclear reactor. While solar panel makers and project developers are optimistic the country could become the world leader by the middle of the next decade, the U.S. industry remains far behind other countries, especially Germany.
Globally, solar installations are expected to reach 14 gigawatts this year. At least half of that will come in Germany, where developers have rushed to build projects ahead of cuts to financial incentives.
