> "There was nothing to bootstrap the industry." Apart from government subsidies. Which, at least in some countries, worked very well. Germany being a key exam

> "There was nothing to bootstrap the industry." Apart from government subsidies. Which, at least in some countries, worked very well. Germany being a key example. Check out this graph showing growth in installed solar generation capacity: http://www.nippon.com/en/files/a01505en_fig011.gif http://www.nippon.com/en/files/a01505en_fig011.gif This growth is at least in part due to the German Renewable Energy Act, which came into force in the year 2000: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Renewable_Energy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Renewable_Energy_Act