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As the world grapples with record oil prices, the increasing urgency to find viable sources of alternative energy has led to a boom in demand for solar energy systems in the past year. According to SEMI, the market for photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal and products, equipment, materials and services, is exploding worldwide with recent estimates projecting the PV market to grow from $13 billion today to over $40 billion in 2012. While the scarcity of solar silicon remains a burning issue, new production technologies in the form of innovative thin film technologies is expected to give a fresh impetus to the industry. As many new players enter the market, there has been an increase in the number of technical conferences and exhibitions in the solar industry. And the close relation between the manufacturing methods for solar cells and semiconductors has led to recent announcements by trade show organizers on co-locating these new PV manufacturing events with more well-established electronics assembly and semiconductor exhibitions. One of these organizers is Reed Exhibitions China. The company recently announced that it is launching a specialized dedicated event for the PV market in China for 2009 (see News China). China’s increasing global dominance as a manufacturer of solar cells, and the obvious synergy between this industry and electronics assembly has called for this exhibition to be organized side by side with Nepcon China in Shanghai, said the trade show organizer. Staying in Asia, SEMI reports that South East Asia is quickly becoming a regional powerhouse in PV production with a number of planned and completed investments. In May, the Semicon organizer presented a PV workshop at the Singapore leg of the show to address government initiatives, manufacturing developments, leading supplier perspectives, and regional R&D activities. The workshop is in line with recent high-profile investments in the region announced by leading companies such as Norwegian solar energy firm Renewable Energy Corp, OC Oerlikon and cell manufacturer, First Solar. SEMI and the organizers of Intersolar have also agreed to collaborate on PV innovation at the “world’s largest” solar energy exhibition to be held in Munich, Germany in May 2009 (see News Snippets). Under the agreement, SEMI will manage the PV manufacturing equipment and materials segment in a dedicated area and co-organize a manufacturing and technology conference and other meetings related to manufacturing and materials. The electronics manufacturing community has been buzzing about solar energy for more than a year now and with all these new and exciting activities lined up for the coming year, the PV industry looks set to finally take off from a bigger stage. EM | 
