Midsummer announced a record high order intake for 2018. Midsummer received orders for SEK 265 million [USD 29.3 million; €25.8 million] last year. The high order intake is driven mainly by the increasing demand for Midsummer’s end products in the US market, where Midsummer’s partner Sunflare has released several new products.
 
“California is a huge market and the state is far ahead of other regions in both regulatory and technical terms,” said Sven Lindström, CEO and founder of Midsummer. “All new homes built in California must have solar power installed from Jan. 1, 2020 and the state has nearly half of US total installed solar power capacity. Our partner Sunflare is investing heavily in this region and has launched several new innovative products in this market that has received great interest.”
 
Solar energy accounts for nearly 17% of California’s total energy production. The amount of installed solar energy is expected to double in the US in five years and more than half of all new electricity in the United States today comes from solar energy. The payback time for a solar energy system in California is shorter than four years while the systems have a technical lifetime of at least 25 years.
 
“We are witnessing a true revolution in renewable energy, with the United States as the driver, and the potential is simply enormous, not just in the southwestern United States but throughout the world. Solar energy is very competitive, even without subsidies and also in cold countries. We believe that the future lies in BIPV, building-integrated solar panels, which can easily be integrated with or attached to roofs, walls, vehicles, tents, over landfills, etc. in urban environments and close to the end consumers. The only limit is production capacity. It would necessitate 435 of our DUO machines to manufacture solar panels to cover just 5% of California’s membrane roofs,” said Lindström.