Will a Shortage of Solar Panels Derail Our Green Energy Revolution?

It seems like just a short while ago we were talking about silicon supplies and the solar panel shortage that resulted.  That was only two years ago in the summer of 2008.  Now we (or is it just me?) seem to be staring down the barrel of another shortage - and there is plenty of silicon to be had.

First Solar, Yingli, Trina, and Suntech have all announced that they are out of solar panels until 2011.  Other markets like Canada and Europe are experiencing massive shortages as installers scramble for cheap or locally made panels to meet incentive deadlines.  Usually reliable manufacturers like Uni-Solar and Evergreen seem to be booked for months and even years.
 
My personal experience has been frustrating all summer as I would find a supplier with the panels I needed, sort out the details of the order, and in the intervening 15 minutes needed to actually the place the order the panels would be committed to a large-scale buyer.

It seems like the only thing we heard about over the last few years was how many solar panel manufacturers were cropping up worldwide.  Chinese manufacturers seemed to grow like weeds and there was a story every week about an upstart US manufacturer taking over an old factory for solar module production. 

And yet, here I am, seemingly everyday reaching out to as many as 15 different suppliers looking for the panels I need.  The new manufacturers are often hard to trust; after all, how many will really be around 20 years from now when their panels SHOULD still be producing power?

I know this means good things for the industry as a whole, and the future is undoubtedly bright.  But this year, and for many years now, I have found myself asking again and again -’Got Panels?’

Kriss Bergethon is a solar supplier and writer from Colorado.