The solar production output rankings are just about to be released according to Renewable Energy World. These rankings, compiled by Photon Magazine, are measured by the number of megawatt peak modules produced in a calendar year. What they have been able to reveal so far is that Q-Cells AG is the world's no. 1 with an annual production of 370 megawatts, they are just ahead of competitors (2) Sharp Corp., (3) Suntech Power, (4) Kyocera  on 207 MW and (5) First Solar with 200 MW.

So the big question is, with this limited preview data, how does that compare to the previous year, 2006?

In 2006, the rankings were;

1. Sharp
2. Q-Cells
3. Kyocera
4. Suntech Power
5. Sanyo
6. Mitsubishi
7. Motech
8. Schott
9. Deutsche Solar (a stock I must add! - Correction, this is the same as SolarWorld AG)
10. BP

So looking back, the big emerging trends are;

i) Output is still going up - from 2.54 GW in 2006 to 3.80 GW in 2007
ii) After years of going nowhere fast, thin film is really taking off - see the top 10 arrival of First Solar
iii) The Chinese are coming - see Suntech Power and probably one other top 10 player as yet to be disclosed (my guess)
iv) The oil companies, BP and Shell are much less significant players and I suspect diversifying out of Solar
v)  The  Japanese  conglomerates are being caught up by independent German and Chinese players - Sharp actually had declining production in 2007.