Spain made a massive push into the solar power industry last year. The Spanish solar energy market saw a 100% increase over 2007 with growth of 2,661 new megawatts of power. This inflated the global solar market such that last year the cost of solar panels was extremely high.

But with the a purchasing cap set at only 500 megawatts in Spain for this year, you can expect that plenty of solar panel manufacturers are going to be stuck with an oversupply issue. Couple that with the harsh realities of the current economic climate and it spells danger for those companies.

The upside, at least in the short term, is for those looking to buy solar panels in 2009. Prices along supply chains are reportedly being dropped by 20-40 percent.