The resulting glut of cheap panels has contributed to the dire financial straits of huge producers like Suntech.
For now, those cheap panels are helping to keep business brisk for installers large and small across the country.
Although Germany is home to large manufacturers of solar panels, its economy is increasingly focused on complementary green industries, which often benefit from cheap panels.
The U.S. solar panel industry has blamed the failure of Solyndra and other companies on China's flooding of the world market with cheap panels.
Installers are taking advantage of hefty tax breaks, creative financing techniques and a glut of cheap panels to make solar power accessible to the mass market.
If anything, the European Commission's deal with China could now result in even more cheap panels flooding into the United States, if anyone is willing to buy them.
Opponents of the tariffs, which include solar developers and installers who have benefited from the abundance of cheap panels, have argued that the tariffs will actually harm the domestic industry, making it more difficult for American companies to do business abroad.
Higson, the Fast Show star, last week argued that the great catchphrase-creating, British comedy sketch show had been erased from schedules in favour of a plethora of "cheaper" panel shows.
I have come here looking for cheaper panels but cannot find any".
And demand for inverters should ultimately grow strongly, once cheaper panels make solar energy competitive with conventional energy sources.
Solyndra, which bet on an expensive new technology for solar power arrays, could not compete against cheaper panels made using more traditional techniques.
