Solar Energy Companies and the
Solar Panels They Make

Solar energy companies can sometimes seem as mysterious as solar electricity itself.

But there are a lot of things you're going to want to know about these companies if you're thinking about going solar.

So let's pull back the curtain and get to know these mysterious companies who will be building your solar panels.

But wait... How will this help?

Well, by getting to know the track record, prices, and product range of these solar energy companies you're going to have a better idea about who you would like to do business with.

You will also find out who produces the panels with the highest solar panel efficiency.

Now, onto the the major players in the solar industry:

• BP Solar
  In case you didn't know, BP stands for British Petroleum. Yes this is a giant oil company that has been moonlighting as a solar energy company since purchasing Lucas Energy Systems in 1980. It had a 20 percent world market share of solar panels in 2004.
• Evergreen Solar
  Evergreen is an American company that was founded in 1994. It produces a patented form of solar cells known as "string ribbon".
• GE Energy
  GE Energy is a division of General Electric. It dabbles in many energy sources including coal, oil, gas, nuclear, water, wind, and of course solar. It launched the dreadfully titled "Ecomagination" program in 2005 promising the development of renewable energy sources.
• ICP Solar
  ICP was created in 1988 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.
• Kaneka
  Kaneka Solar has built up twenty years of experience in the "thin-film" solar market.
• Kyocera
  Founded in 1959 and based in Kyoto, Japan, this company has recently announced plans to triple its solar cell production.
• Mitsubishi
  Mitsubishi Electric is part of the Japan's Mitsubishi Group. They have been developing photovoltaic technology since 1974. They have recently developed a solar cell with the world's highest conversion efficiency rate of 18.6%
• Sanyo
  Sanyo Electric is a division of Japan's Sanyo electronics company. They opened a solar module assembly plant in 2004 and their solar panels are based on the HIT solar cell.
• Schott Solar
  Established in 2002, this company "taps into the experience" of its predecessor firms like AEG which have been researching solar cells since 1958. It is part of German glass maker Schott AG.
• Sharp
  This Japanese company, founded in 1912, has been researching solar cells since 1959. They began mass production in 1963 and are now a world leader in solar panel production, producing 25% of the planet's solar cells.
• Sunpower
  Founded in 1985 by Stanford University professor Richard Swanson, Sunpower is looking to make solar power mainstream. How? By reducing the installed cost of a solar system by 50 percent by 2012.
• Suntech
  This relative newcomer was founded in 2001 and is already one of the top ten manufacturers of photovoltaic cells. It is based in China.
• Uni-Solar
  Also known as United Solar Ovonic, this company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices of Michigan. It is the world's largest manufacturer of photovoltaic laminates (a thin-film solar cell).