In my letter printed in the Financial Times last Friday, I argued that solar PV power works best in remote locations with batteries. I'm highly sceptical about grid-connecting solar power. A 2 way electrical grid is fine, but grid-connected solar would only really make sense when it is cheaper than the grid. That way that national grid would be the backup. Consuming power as near to the point of production as possible would then be a smart idea, when the full costs of transmission and distribution are factored in.

Anyway, one company that does both on and off grid solar power is the solar division of ATS, a Toronto listed stock. The division is called Spheral Solar. And  as this page shows, all the growth these last few years in the solar industry has been in grid-connected solar power. Still, what the graph doesn't show is that grid-connected solar power is heavily dependent on government handouts.

So investors should bear that in mind and keep an eye on government solar policies.