Solar industry looks for light at tunnel’s end

By Matt Nauman, Mercury News

Solar-industry executives paint a bright future for their industry, one where photovoltaic panels adorn roofs of homes and businesses and huge power plants capture the sun’s rays to generate electricity. But the industry currently finds itself under cloudy skies and buffeted by threatening winds.

The solar tax credits approved late last year gave the industry a boost, and its leaders are hopeful for an even bigger boost by President Barack Obama, who has promised to promote clean technologies and energy alternatives to oil. But it’s far from clear just how much help will come, and when.

Meanwhile, many once-promising solar companies struggle to maintain momentum against the strong headwinds of the financial crisis. Feel-good headlines about well-funded startups and new jobs are giving way to grim announcements of factory delays and layoffs.

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