Solar technologies' growth remains reliant on subsidy, in particular feed-in tariffs. However, technological innovation and economies of scale are driving costs down and governments increasingly believe solar will be competitive with more traditional forms of power generation in the future. The industry is weathering the economic slowdown (just), but which technologies emerge as market winners remains an open question.rnMost of the energy sector was badly affected by the global economic crisis during second-half 2008, but solar power was one of very few economic success stories. A total of 5.5 GW of new generating capacity was installed during 2008, up from just 2.4 GW in 2007. The European Photovoltaic Industry Association estimates that global generating capacity has reached 15 GW. Investment in new production lines resulted in 6.85 GW/year of solar cell manufacturing production capacity by end-2008, up from 3.44 GW one year earlier, while the industry generated annual global revenues of $37.1 billion.
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