Get Ready for Solar Boom From China Plants as Asia Demand Swells
An employee inspects solar cells moving along the production line at the Trina Solar Ltd. factory in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
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Solar panel makers globally are preparing for their best year since 2011, when U.S.-backed Solyndra LLC went bust, as China and Japan take advantage of falling prices to shift more of their energy production to clean power.
Panel production is forecast to grow by almost a third this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s a significant reversal for an industry that’s been crippled by its own excess as companies in China including JA Solar Holdings Co. and LDK Solar Co. raised almost $3 billion in 2007 and 2008 to expand production.