Most Popular Solar Panels in California

June 16th, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

Interested to know which solar panel companies make the most sales in California? Well, the California Solar Initiative (CSI) has compiled and revealed data on just that.

There are some clear leaders in the field, but it’s also clear that there’s a lot of competition and several companies are making a decent penny on solar panel installations while helping to grow the use of clean, solar power in California.

Our friend Brittany at CalFinder Home Solar had a good summary of the info, so rather than rehash that, here’s her commentary:

First, we see that BP Solar, a once-major player that captured a sizable chunk of installations for years, has fallen from grace. This is probably due to the oil spill disaster and internal complications (it’s hard to watch solar suffer in any form, but BP had it coming). That decline, however, paved the way for SunPower, Sharp and Kyocera Solar to reign king in 2010 and 2011. These three claimed 46% of all California installations thus far. So what makes these solar panels the most sought-after in all of California? For starters, SunPower, Sharp and Kyocera are industry veterans. Having been founded in 1985, 1959 and 1963, respectively, each dove into solar innovation and continued to perfect their processes. What’s more, SunPower and Kyocera have both achieved world records for solar panel efficiencies. That, plus their established reputations in solar (solar panels as we know them are still fairly new, after all), have built trust in the eyes of even the most discerning homeowners. What else can we glean from CSI’s data? Chinese manufacturers are slowly gaining market share. Yingli Green Energy rose from ninth place (tracked since 2006) to fifth in 2010. Suntech Power is also sitting pretty at fourth.

Of course, California is the nation’s solar leader. It has installed over 83,477 solar projects totaling 838 megawatts, more than most countries of the world. And, for all those who have installed it on their homes, I’m sure they were happy to find out that the solar panels boost the sales price of their homes.

The U.S. is currently the most attractive country in the world in the solar energy investment market, according to a recent report by Ernst & Young. And a lot of that is due to the work being done in California. Great to have that state, and its residents, helping to lead our nation on that front.

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