Solar Photovoltaic Industry Overview

We describe the different types of Manufacturing facilities are and how they contribute to local economic development.

There is also information on the market share of solar energy as a proportion of total primary energy. In many countries, funding is available to accelerate growth of solar PV.

You can find information on total funding provided by Governments for solar energy and also details of installed PV capacity by country.

Fast Facts Industry

The Solarbuzz web site provides a wealth of information on almost all aspects of solar photovoltaics.

A good place to start is with a simple list of facts that address the typical questions people ask about the solar energy industry.

If you are interested in the most active solar PV markets, we have pages devoted to the top three countries: Japan, Germany, and the USA. You can find out what are the main applications for solar energy and the different types of solar energy technologies.

Industry Statistics


The solar PV industry has a consistent record of strong demand growth.

We outline that market track record and the progressive reduction in the cost and price trend in the PV industry.

Distributed Generation

The question is often asked how does solar compare with other distributed Generation technologies.

We have a page which provides an overview of the comparison of solar energy with other energy sources including Fuel Cells, Microturbines and Wind Energy.

Solar Products and Electricity Pricing

We outline solar energy prices in terms of the price per kilowatt hour (kWh) and provide a comparison of Solar Electricity against existing Electricity tariffs.

We describe the sources of value of solar energy and set out a process for determining whether it makes sense for your Utility.

Also, try our Funding page for more background on financial incentives to promote solar PV. There are important Certifications, Codes and Standards that apply to the Solar Energy Industry.

We list the main ones, for by solar installations, solar systems, solar product components and manufacturing plants.

Solar Energy Web Links

And you don't need to just rely upon us.

We have listed over 500 other links which we believe provide useful start points for additional information about the solar industry. These sites are mainly non-commercial sites.

Our Newsletter, Reports and Consultancy

To allow you to easily stay in touch with solar news, we issue a FREE weekly newsletter, sent by email at the start of each week. You can register for Newsbuzz by submitting your email address here.

Solarbuzz markets number of reports. These include our quarterly news and comment report Qbuzz, and our annual detailed market report Marketbuzz 2008.

We provide specific detailed reports on Funding Programs in support of PV in Europe and the USA.

Solarbuzz also undertakes consultancy for a range of international clients on all aspects of solar PV. This includes PV technology, manufacturing and marketing. We offer unrivalled commercial focus and the ability to call on our extensive databases, not least being our monthly retail price survey which has been running since June 2000.