Will Congress extend solar and wind tax credits?
With the tax credits set to expire at the end of 2008, "(Solar installers) don't want to go beyond the December 31st deadline, so everybody's trying to jam-pack their orders in before the end of the year," said Kenedi of Sharp Electronics, the largest U.S. producer of solar panels.
"From the manufacturing perspective, we're sold out," said Tom Mueller, a spokesman for BP Solar in Houston.
Tucson-based Technicians for Sustainability buys solar from Schott Solar Inc. and Sun Power Corp. Both makers have told company president Kevin Koch that he will likely not be able to get any more panels this year.
The solar tax credit covers 30% of a system's cost, but it will drop to 10% Jan. 1 2009 if Congress doesn't act soon.
The likelihood of taking on a new job right now is low, said Tom Dyer, senior vice president of marketing and government affairs at Scottsdale-based Kyocera Solar Inc.
“The historical growth within the solar industry is creating a huge demand on suppliers and manufacturers in the market. Silicon prices have gone through the roof and there is a very limited supply of panels," stated Robert Kaapke, CEO of Evolution Solar.
Some think the U.S. could be generating 10% of its electricity from the sun within 10-15 years, and Scientific American published a scheme last year for drawing almost 70% of our power using solar by 2050. Merrill Lynch's Mark Heller noted that solar startups raised more money in 2007-8 than Internet stocks did in their 1998 heyday.
Related News

Idaho gets vast majority of electricity from renewables, almost half from hydropower
BOISE - More than 80% of Idaho’s in-state utility-scale electricity generation came from renewable resources in 2018, behind only Vermont, according to recently released data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Electric Power Monthly.
Idaho generated 17.4 million MWh of electricity in 2018, of which 14.2 million MWh came from renewable sources. Idaho uses a variety of renewable resources to generate electricity:
Hydroelectricity. Idaho ranked seventh in the U.S. in electricity generation from hydropower in 2018. About half of Idaho’s electricity generating capacity is at hydroelectric power plants and seven of the state’s 10 largest power plants (in terms of electricity generation)…