The world is hungry for solar energy technology and China is quickly developing the world's leading (or at least fastest growing) solar energy corporate scene.

Chinalysts just published a Chinese Solar Stocks Comparison Table that gives a good overview of the different publicly traded Chinese companies involved in solar technology.




Energy Refuge Dot Com recently pointed out that China has now become the world's largest consumer of solar energy. One reason for that is the production model many of the companies involved in solar technology have - a beginning-to-end approach that starts with finding raw materials, includes producing the silicon chips needed to make solar cells, and continues through the production of marketable panels that can be sold inside China or exported. The model reduces vulnerability to shortages of materials that many Western solar companies have encountered.

Next month China will host the 2007Solar World Congress in Beijing.

Is there still room for innovation and development in China's solar industry? Fellow blogger Dana Blankenhorn recently summed up the lack of standards in the developing solar industry: "You can sell as much as you make, no matter its efficiency, no matter its size, no matter how it plugs into whatever. Over the long run that is a huge problem. It's a big problem for the industry, and a bigger problem for its customers."

Venture Capital has good reason to keep its eye on the solar sector in China. The lack of standards leaves plenty of room for the introduction of new technology that could set standards. The next few years will produce some sweet opportunities for investment as the industry grows.