Date: 27 September 2011
Silicon Valley is the world's undisputed champion of high-tech innovation. And it makes most of its products abroad.
So is America's solar power industry doomed if most solar manufacturing moves overseas?
The bankruptcy of Fremont's Solyndra has spawned a debate over whether the United States is losing - or has already lost - the race to dominate this fast-growing industry. Solyndra executives blamed their company's fall on competition from new, highly subsidized factories in China, whose low prices Solyndra couldn't match. China now makes 54 percent of the world's solar cells, up from just 6 percent in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. America's market share has slid from 43 percent in 1995 to 6 percent this year.
Read more: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi
600450
http://www.sfgate.com
2011-09-27T13:00:00
U.S. solar firms lead in installation
glassonweb.com
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