Germany is the China of solar PV, just like China is the Germany of wind

I last reported on the amazing growth of wind energy in China. Well, in the solar PV arena the dramatic story is Germany. In 2001, Germany had 75 MW of installed PV capacity, or, if you think of a household system as being 3 kW in size, about 25,000 households worth (1 MW = 1,000 kW). At the end of 2010, the figure had absolutely skyrocketed -- to 17,300 MW. That's 231 times more systems -- enough PV for five and a half million homes. 43% of the world's PV is installed in Germany, way ahead of second place Spain, which has 10%. And the sun in Germany, on average, isn't even that good. The USA, by the way, has 7% of the world's installed PV capacity.