Over the last three years, China's share of the California solar market, in terms of supplied megawatts, has risen to 46 percent, from 2 percent, according to a preliminary report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a research and consulting firm.
At the same time, the share supplied in California by American companies has declined to 16 percent, from 43 percent.
At the beginning of 2009, Chinese solar companies supplied 21 percent of the market; by year's end their stake had more than doubled.
Solar module prices have also fallen precipitously in the past year, a period that has coincided with China's push into the California market. Those companies' lower manufacturing costs gave them an edge over competitors, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
A Chinese module maker with little name recognition in the United States, Yingli, has captured 27 percent of the California market thanks to low pricing, the report said. Suntech, China's leading module-maker, has a 10 percent share in California. (Source: Todd Woody, New York Times, Jan 17, 2010).