Like other makers of the renewable power system, U.S. market leader SunPower has been hoping for strong growth in demand for large-scale, multi-megawatt solar projects, although the country continues to lag European growth.
'Large-scale developments in utility are happening maybe slower than planned,' Chief Executive Tom Werner told Reuters at a Lazard Capital Markets energy conference.
'It's still really a 2011 or beyond development,' he added, noting the residential rooftop and commercial markets remained robust.
Those markets are largely dependent on state and federal incentives, which have supported steady growth in recent years, although the projects tend to be much smaller than the utility projects.
The U.S. photovoltaic market was less than 10 percent of the global market last year, far behind Germany, where more than half the new solar modules were sold.
On Tuesday, SunPower announced it would build a 9.1 megawatt solar power plant in Spain for the Naturener Group, its fifth project for the group.
(Reporting by Matt Daily; editing by Andre Grenon) Keywords: SUNPOWER/US (matt.daily@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: matt.daily.reuters.com@reuters.net +1 646 223 6121) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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