Remember when photovoltaic (PV) solar cells were a boutique industry, existing on government subsidies and R&D budgets? Those days are gone, as research firm iSuppli predicts that worldwide investments in PV cell production will rise to the level of semiconductor manufacturing by 2010. The iSuppli report expects global production of PV cells to grow 40% annually and rise to 12GW by 2010, up from 3.5GW in 2007. Short term growth drivers include surging prices for conventional energy along with rising worldwide power demand. Long term factors include the drive to renewables coupled with declining PV production costs.
