Leadership Profile: Tom Werner (Part 9)

Thursday, April 19, 2007 | 1 comment

After discussing German and Japanese markets, Tom visits the North American markets with a particular emphasis on California. Of particular interest is the amount of growth which is expected, spurred in part by governmental policy and incentive programs. We use that discussion as a catalyst to have some quick discussions on the current and projected marketplace.

SM: Is California the only state in the US with a strong Solar policy? TW: Interestingly there are states in the north east - New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and over the course of the last year or so, Arizona. Texas is potentially looming on the horizon.

SM: You are lobbying to bring these states online as well? TW: We are looking at developing programs within each market to accelerate solar adoption, and we currently do business in 14 states. California is the dominant market in the US, but there is a profusion of other states who are working on it.

SM: What is the size of the solar power industry right now? TW: In 2006, the total production of solar cells was 2,000 mega watts. In monetary terms, that would be a global installation market on the order of $18-$20 billion.

SM: So it has gone from $2 billion to about $18 billion of total available market from the time you started. What is your market share? TW: Our market share went from 0% to right around 5% now. At least one important industry analyst put us in the top 10 last year.

This segment is part 9 in a 12 part series Segment 10 →
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