Plan Issued for Growth in Solar Power

A report from the National Center for Photovoltaics predicts that solar energy will satisfy at least 15 percent of the additional energy demand in the US by 2020. The report advises photovoltaics manufacturers and suppliers to give priority to worldwide technological superiority in the field and competition with conventional sources of energy for investors.

The center warns that the majority of photovoltaics consumption is overseas and that European and Japanese research and development threatens US dominance. It challenges the industry to seize the opportunity under utility deregulation to meet an annual growth rate of 25 percent and to realize what it forecasts to be a $10 billion market in 20 years.