Worldwide Solar Development

Solar industry is now $15 billion per year in the worldwide. Solar market is growing very fast with a growing rate of 35% each year. Some examples:

1. Australia is a leading country in solar use. For example, 1 out of every 7 residential homes now use and benefit from water heating systems.
2. In United States, Million Solar Roofs Initiative program was launched early in 1998 with the goal of installing a million solar systems (PV units and thermal systems) on the roofs of commercial and residential buildings by 2010.
3. China is now the largest market for solar water heating systems in the world both in terms of manufacturing and deployment. In 2004, 1.35 million solar water heaters were sold and installed. It is estimated that by 2015, 20% to 30% of homeowners in China will use solar water heaters and China will have 2.32 billion square meter solar collectors, an industry that is worth approximately $438 billion (RMB) per year.
4. Israel has pioneered the use of solar energy. In Israel, solar water heaters must be installed for all new buildings by law. Over 80% of Israeli homeowners have solar water heaters now.
5. Germany is a world leader in solar electricity. The federal government has taken various programs and actions during the past 25 years for solar development. I.e., Germany has installed over 600MW solar electricity last year and took the largest installation capacity in 2005 in the world.
6. Many other countries such as Korea, Spain, India, Italy have all launched similar programs and incentives to deploy renewable solar energy.