It is a foregone conclusion that the first half of 2011 was a particularly bad time for the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry along the value chain

In fact these were the worst two quarters in recent memory. Years of increasing investments in ever-larger production capacities led to spiraling overproduction at a time of weakening markets, impacted by investor caution over uncertain changes to Germany' s and Italian feed-in tariffs and global financial troubles, leading to a perfect storm for the industry.