British Petroleum - Increasing Role For Solar Energy

Earlier this year, British Petrolium (BP) announced that it intends to boost its sales of solar energy equipment from US$100m to US$1bn a year over the next 10 years. Although the company does not yet see solar power as a commercially viable alternative to fossil fuels, it believes that with public support and investment considerable progress towards this end can be made in the next decade. During a speech at Stanford University (CA), BP's chief executive was expected to announce the opening of the company's first US solar equipment factory. The factory, at Fairfield, CA, is scheduled to open late this year, and will produce a new kind of glass-based voltaic panel which is said to be cheaper to make than traditional silicon-based panels.