Media Spotlight: Solar Power

​The global energy landscape is constantly changing and solar power is no exception to that rule. Here’s a brief selection of recent stories taken from media around the country and around the world.

The Wall Street Journal reports on Solarworld, the latest German company to hit serious financial difficulties. The company’s stock price fell 11% yesterday, bringing the total drop to 83% in the last twelve months. The decline in government subsidies is one reason that German solar companies have faced so many problems but many believe that Chinese solar panel production has also played a role.

Solarworld is at the forefront of efforts to get regulators to punish Chinese companies for flooding the European and U.S. markets with cheap solar panels in breach of global trade rules. Read the rest of the story here.

Meanwhile, here in the U.S. the New York Times magazine published an article by Jeff Himmelman entitled The Secret to Solar Power. The feature takes a fascinating look at the residential solar market, some of it’s leading actors and asks the question of why perception of solar power doesn’t match up to the reality.

In regional news, Thomas Spencer of The Birmingham News investigates why Alabama is lagging so far behind the rest of the country when it comes to developing solar power options.