It is inevitable for the industry to go through turbulences these couple of years, Ellick Liao, chairman for Eversol has pointed out. It all began in 2008 when the Spanish government realized the lucrative incentive program was causing tremendous debt pressure to its budgets and made adjustments by cutting the incentives by a significant proportion. Currently, the incentive for the Spanish solar market has yet to recover. When the financial crisis took a hold on the world's economy in 2009, even with good internal rate of return (IRR), the market was less willing to buy new installations, added Liao.

The second half of 2009 was when the demand began to return. To prevent overheating, the German government adjusted their incentive programs accordingly. After numerous cuts, the market stabilized. The former heavily-subsidized countries such as France and the Czech Republic also made huge cuts to the incentive programs, according to Liao.

"Currently in 2011, the two biggest solar markets in the world, Germany and Italy, both decided to continue making cuts to the subsidies, and the challenges of the solar market will grow annually, I think" Liao indicated.

Despite the tough years to come, Liao added, 2013 is expected to be the year when everything will turn well as markets such as Japan, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK achieve grid parity. Subsidy would not be needed by the industry; the government can propose policies such as part of the electricity generated must be from renewable energy sources, Liao commented.

According to Liao, Taiwan-based solar companies should focus on riding out the tough waves to 2013.