In an upbeat article in this week's Time Magazine entitled "Rising Sunlight - How Japan's lack of oil helped make it the world leader in solar panels it was mentioned that for Kyocera - a japanese conglomerate which produces 120 MW of solar panels a year, they now account for 5% of the company's total sales and 12% of its operating profit. Kyocera is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as well as the NYSE and the Nasdaq.

Solar has had much success in Japan. But a crucial reason that was not mentioned in the article is that the price of electricity in Japan is perhaps the highest on earth - 24 cents per kilowatt hour for a retail customer.

Alternatives only become real alternatives when traditional sources of energy are close in price.

In Japan, this has clearly happened.