Hoku Scientific, originally a fuel cell developer based in Hawaii, since morphed into a solar photovoltaic manufacturer and distributor has just signed a deal to bring 350 kw of pv power to Paradise Beverages - a distributor for Heineken, Coors and Miller Beer in Hawaii at is Oahu facility. The less serious part of me wonders if part of the deal was free beer for the annual Christmas party . . . I digress.

The important point is that the Drinks Industry is an extremely energy-intensive one, operating more often than not, in low value real estate, with large redundant flat rooves, ideal for solar panels. It is also a sector that has been pursued with no small amount of success by Solar Integrated Technologies or SIT. They managed to snare Coca-Cola as a client in California. Both Hawaii and California have the sunny climate and the relatively high electricity prices that work to price in solar as a commercial solution. Buying solar power for industries in both these states is a more calculable risk, as it is a forward purchase of electricity at a fixed price, 20 years into the future against an uncertain and regulatory-induced limited supply of grid-tied electricity.

But between beer and soda, in the long-run, if I was a sales manager for a solar company, I would bet on alcohol consumption growing a lot faster and those companies power consumption with it, every time. Rightly or wrongly, the world is starting to recoil from the health impact of too many sugary, unnatural drinks. I'm not convinced that too many of the globe's newly rich seek to emulate Warren Buffet's admiration for Cherry Coke. Whereas the aspiration (Champagne at the top and beer at the bottom) and sense of occasion that come with alcoholic beverages - in spite of arguably greater health risks - are too manifest to ignore. So their next point of call might be for the solar industry to pursue drinks manufacturers in the fastest growing economies with major power shortages where their intellectual property can be reasonably protected - I'm thinking of India, Vietnam and just maybe, Turkey.