No, its not about somebody that we should stay away from; “shmuck” means “jewelry” in German, and for me that was the most innovative booth at the recent conference for solar industry in Dresden, Germany.
This was different from the last conference I attended in Hawaii, in May, whereby the availability of modules seems to be easing up and we may even detect some price stability or reduction. I have a feeling that those that booked up 2007 back in 2005 are well sold out, yet the new capacity or unsold capacity may be available if you look hard enough by players who have recently added capacity and did not have the history for big players to commit in large volumes to.
The major difference was the presence of a number of thin film booths. It appears that the projections show thin films taking 17% market share by 2010 (just three and half years away) and is a very telling thing when you consider that today, thin films account for about 1% of worldwide usage.
Once again, disruptives had a lot of promise, yet little delivery so far. It seems that they continue to develop in the lab yet are not quite ready for “prime time”. Its either that or they are keeping a low profile until fully tested and see no point in advertising to the rest of the industry their progress.
In any case, 2007 is shaping up as a huge year for solar (and ICP Solar) as the markets continue to evolve and demand grows in new countries where grid programs are being launched this year and next. We were four representatives of ICP Solar at this show and I must say that the old adage “strength in numbers” played well for us. I believe we’ll exhibit there next year as it seems that this is a very trade-oriented affair, whereas Intersolar in Freiburg is very consumer focused.
Sass