2008 was a record year for PV solar industry in Spain as far as installed power, new employments and investments are concerned. 2009 will be considered as a record pessimistic year for the same business. In the first six months of 2009, 28.000 people have already lost their job and not owing to the world economic crisis.

The origin of this negative year resides in a law made by Zapatero’s administration in 2008: namely RD 1578/2008. RD 1578/2008 replaces RD 661/2007 that had just been implemented the year before by the same government. The new RD changes the following:

* Introduction of a yearly share for installed power
* Average FIT (Feed-In Tariff) reduced from .47€/kWh to .29€/kWh.

The consequence has been a rush by the industry to install and sell as much as possible before its putting into force. Between January and September 2008 2,700 MW were deployed in Spain, an increment of 385% over 2007. Spain became the country with the largest PV park installed. The case looks from top to bottom singular for 2009. A mere 200 or 250 MW will be set up. The industry will loose one third of its 42,000 direct jobs. The total funding go down from 16,000 million € to 1,600 million €.

The socialist government, again, proved insufficiency of insight and  weak arrangements. They bred a speculative tendency by offering kind Feed-In Tariffs, only to reduce them only one year later on; accordingly, turning into losing any investment made by operators in the business. This includes stocks, signing up and preparing, as well as company development and foundation. The FIT created in RD 661 did not allow for the price of energy and contributed to the broad deficit of the energy industry. And the new FIT lauched in RD 1578 is exceptionally conformist and has affected a crisis in the industry.

The expenditure for production of PV energy keeps reaching lower and lower due to advances in technology. This is particularly accurate with concentrated photovoltaics that moderate greatly the amount of silicon crystals indispensable. It appears likely that in a matter of two to three years the photovoltaic set up in Spain during 2008 may look archaic and expensive.