The U.K.’s Times Online has an interesting story marking a milestone in the solar industry. For the first time the solar industry’s demand for silicon has outstripped demand from the semiconductor industry. Citing Solar Buzz, the story said refined silicon for solar applications reached 23,102 metric tonnes this year, up 12 per cent from the previous year. “It is the first time that annual volumes have exceeded those for manufacturers of semiconductors used in computers and other electronic equipment, which are expected to reach about 22,882 tonnes this year, up slightly from 22,086 last year,” according to Times Online.

Meanwhile, a new survey from the U.S. National Venture Capital Association found that investment dollars directed toward clean technologies, such as solar, are expected to grow in 2008. But funding for semiconductor-related ventures is expected to decline. This, and the silicon milestone, only supports the suggestion that the clean technology market is going nowhere but up.

It would be unCanadian of me to not point out the numerous stories today — finally unleashed after an embargo — detailing Vancouver-based Finavera’s deal to sell wave power to Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

I won’t go into too much detail, other than to say the commitment by 2012 is for Finavera to supply about 2 megawatts of wave energy to PG&E using a wave park located about four kilometres off the California coast. The power purchase agreement, or PPA, with PG&E is being billed as the “first commercial wave-energy contract in the United States,” and calls for supply of nearly 4,000 megawatt-hours of renewable ocean power annually over the term of the contract.

Check out the Globe and Mail article here, and the Greentech Media story here, and the San Francisco Chronicle story here.