Solar industry consulting firm, Solarplaza, hosting a conference on “The Solar Future” on May 26th in Munich, Germany. Speakers from First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE:STP), and Q-Cells as well as industry analysts will discuss what is on the horizon for the solar industry.  Other companies which are listed at the conference’s site here are Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), Akeena Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKNS), and Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL).

But the horizon may be closer than the participants think. The global economic slowdown has severely cut into solar industry growth, and the survival or profitability of the industry may be a more important topic for discussion than the size of the industry in 2013.

The near- and medium-term profitability of the PV solar sector may not attract as many conference attendees as futuristic discussions of solar domination, but the day may come when government subsidies for solar won’t cover the losses.  Maybe the conference ought to spend a few minutes on what happens then.

Paul Ausick
April 29, 2009