Here's a sunny – and long overdue – prospect for the military: The world's largest solar project has been planned by Sun Edison for Nevada, producing a whopping 18 megawatts of photovoltaic electricity (twice the size of the current biggest solar installation, located in Germany) and much of that will be purchased by the military. Dubbed the “Saudi Arabia of solar” by the state's Senator Harry Reid, Nevada has more solar resources than any other state, and boasts plans to develop a total of 36 MW electricity, enough to power 36,000 homes.

Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, sees it as a symbol of his party's Energy Independence by 2020 plan, which aims to add enough alternative energy resources and energy efficiency measures to make America free of foreign oil dependency in 15 years.

A great notion, of course, but if solar is to be a significant component of this plan, the industry will have to shore up the shortfall of silicon, a key material that is used in the development of photovoltaic panels. While demand for solar has soared 40 percent per year over the past five years, the industry is struggling to find enough materials to meet the demand.

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