That is what an article in the business section of my newspaper proclaims. The article says that the US market for solar panel installations jumped 67% last year, with California leading the nation in photovoltaic solar installations. Some of the most active states include: CA @ 259 MW; NJ @137 MW; NV @ 61 MW; AZ @ 54 MW; CO @ 53 MW, PEN @ 47 MW; NM @ 43 MW; FL @ 35 MW; NC @ 31MW; TX @ 23 MW; everywhere else amounted to 135 MW, for a total solar panel power installation in the US of 878 MW.
These installations included rooftop, hot water heating and utility-scale projects. Their value went from $3.6 billion during 2009 to $6 billion in 2010. Total mW for the nation increased by 102%, up from 435 MW in 2009 to 878 MW in 2010.
The article mentions the venture-backed company of SolFocus, which was founded in 2006. They have experienced so much growth that they are moving their headquarters from Mountain View, CA to a much larger, 44,000 sf facility in San Jose, CA. The company uses CPV, or concentrated photovoltaics, to concentrate the sun's energy onto photovoltaic cells. It recently completed a 1-mW installation at Victory Valley College in San Bernardino County.
Also mentioned is San Jose-based SunPower, which reported $2.2 billion in revenue in 2010 and recently announced three power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison to deliver 711 MW of solar power by 2016.
