Solar Silicon Valley centre of a new booming industry?

Dollar per Watt as key driver
A key driver for all of this is not only the California Solar Initiative, but more the
hunt for the "dollar per Watt" cost barrier for solar module production. This cost level
is still considered as the barrier for grid parity, meaning production of solar
electricity which costs the same as or less than electricity from the grid, without
support from government incentives. Of course that would create an unlimited global
market potential. The new ventures in Solar Silicon Valley can roughly be divided into
two groups: one comprises the companies believing that concentrator technologies can
bring down cost by using 100 to 1000 times less silicon cell material, the other group
sees fully automated mass production using thin-film techniques as the solution to drive
down production cost. What these companies have in common is their relationship with
Venture Capital. Investors in the Valley have found their way into the renewable and
solar energy sector. In 2006 alone, one third of all venture capital invested worldwide
went to clean technology companies based in Silicon Valley, according to Mercury News.

Applied Materials production lines
Applied Materials is certainly one of the most interesting companies that are scheduled
in the program. This company, manufacturing thin-film module production lines, announced
this week yet another new customer. The new company Signet Solar will use the equipment
"to accelerate widespread adoption of solar energy by establishing an industry-leading
solar photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing cost structure, targeting grid parity by
2010". It is not the first customer buying Applied Materials equipment and heading for a
thin-film revival. Among their customers are the world's second largest cell manufacturer
Q-Cells and the newly established company Sunfilm. The latter is backed by investors Good
Energies and NorSun AG, both very familiar in the solar industry. T-Solar Global S.A.
from Spain recently signed a deal and one of the world's largest companies in
CD-manufacturing, Moser Baer India Ltd., selected Applied Materials as well to supply a
similar production line of 40 MW capacity. Are all of them heading towards grid parity
prices around 2010? That means that solar energy could become affordable in many market
segments in less than 3 years from now. The PV Trade Mission will hopefully find out more
soon.

International Trade Mission to California
In order to understand the magnitude of this industry development and the domestic market
opportunities, SolarPlaza, in cooperation with the California Solar Energy Industries
Association, is organizing an international PV trade mission to California from 10 to 15
June. Within the program there are visits, meetings and presentations scheduled with
several CEOs of the above companies. The Mission will visit MiaSolé, Applied Materials,
Akeena Solar and PowerLight Corporation and meet with their Presidents and CEOs. In
symposiums during the one week program, presentations are scheduled with the CEOs and
board members of Energy Innovations, MMA Ventures, Solaria, SPG Solar, SolFocus and
SV-Solar. Presentations by major stakeholders in the Californian PV market will provide a
detailed picture of the business opportunities within one of the four largest markets in
the world. Senior market consultants like Paula Mints (Navigant Consulting), Travis
Bradford (Prometheus Institute) and Glenn Harris (SunPower Consulting) will elaborate on
the US and California market trends and challenges during presentations in the PV
Matchmaking event on 14 June. This symposium and workshop will offer further ways to meet
with California's well established and newest PV companies and to discuss with them the
local and global PV market trends. Around 15 to 20 international PV executives are
expected to participate in this trade mission. Most of them will be CEOs, VP Business
Development, investors and European project developers of solar park projects.

This PV tour is the sixth one organized by SolarPlaza.com. This event will bring together PV business executives and investors from many countries and will create a dynamic environment and platform for high level discussions about new business opportunities in the rapidly growing Californian and global solar energy market.
Previous trade missions visited China, Spain, Italy and Greece.