Around 1500 positions will be created during the development phase itself. The second company will work on high tech thin film solar panels, which have never been applied in commercial applications before. This project will be based in Indiana and Colorado, creating 2000 jobs during the construction phase and 1500 steady jobs in the future. This would comply with the president's statement during his election campaign about bringing up several "green" jobs. Both the projects are major steps towards competing against the Chinese solar industry. Even though these developments are positive, getting the loans does not imply success.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10500164
California's solar industry has been growing at a fast pace. Solar panel installations in the roofs of the homes have gone from 500 to 50,000 within 10 years. San Diego itself has 2,262 solar roofs, more than San Francisco or Los Angeles. Nevada City is the one of the leaders in per capita...
The city of industry, near the outskirts of Los Angeles has the highest capacity (1.5 Kilowatts per head) per capita. Regardless of these efforts, solar power is responsible for less than 1% of the American power supply. The unavailability of feed-in tariff (like in Germany) prevents homeowners to set up extra power capacities and sell electricity. A Bill passed in this regard, the AB920, sponsored by Jared Huffman, has been unsuccessful in gaining enough support. A San Francisco-based group, Vote Solar Initiative has been making efforts to pass a bill to remove the limits of financial resources accessible to customers in order to compensate their power bills (net metering). As per the terms of this bill, its users can use solar roofs to pay off their bills. The assembly is waiting for the final decision.
Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/07/solar-energy-california.html
