Like many people, the solar industry seemed to largely take a break over the holiday season. However, there was still some stirring. The international solar industry is starting to grow more rapidly, with project developers looking at larger projects in an increasing number of countries. In the meantime, there were more advances in technologies that will fuel future generations of photovoltaics.

Normally when talking about international projects, markets in Europe, Northern Africa and India come to mind. But the European market is in flux, so developers are looking elsewhere. For instance, South Africa just announced 1.4 gigawatts of renewable energy projects, 632 megawatts will be solar power. Of those, SolarReserve won the largest contracts, two separate 75-megawatt photovoltaic plants.

India is increasingly heating up for solar as well. The U.S. Export-Import Bank is supporting a growing number of projects using U.S.-made technology. Most recently it funded a 2-megawatt project using MiaSolé’s thin-film photovoltaics in Gujarat, India with $37 million in loans. The project also is being developed by a Texas-based project developer Universal Solar System.

South and Latin America also are starting to draw interest as potential solar project markets. Opel Solar partnered with Spain-based IG Solar to pursue large commercial-scale solar projects in countries like Peru, Chile and Argentina. Opel has already bid on a number of projects and is awaiting responses.

Meanwhile Skyline Solar completed work on the largest concentrated photovoltaic—if not the largest PV project—in Latin America, a 500-kilowatt array in Durango, Mexico. And it’s already working on developing more projects in Mexico and Chile.

The industry is heading into unchartered territories in 2012 with changes to incentives throughout the world coming at the same time competition among manufactures has grown. So while prices for PV have shrunk, the incentives that helped project developers secure financing to support projects also have shrunk or ended, like the Treasury Department’s 1603 grant program, which wasn’t extended (it still could be when Congress revisits taxes in a couple of months). The dual impacts leave manufactures and developers in the lurch. SunRun said the changes and uncertainty could lead to a Darwinian year in 2012.

First Solar is making moves to avert the issue, looking toward a future without incentives. The company lowered its guidance for 2011 and 2012 and said it will seek out markets where solar can compete without incentives. The company is reorganizing under the leadership of interim CEO and Chairman Mike Ahearn. Some speculate that the company could be a target for a buyout. But such a buyout would likely result from a hostile takeover, not a corporate choice, said at least one analyst.

Meanwhile advances in technologies that will help make the next generation of solar power even less expensive and more efficient keep coming. These include technologies like quantum dots. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently announced that researchers have produced a PV device using quantum dots that can produce more electrons than photons it absorbs. The device reached an external quantum efficiency of 114 percent. The research could lead to solar cells that are nearly 30 percent more efficient than what’s currently possible.

Image courtesy of NREL.