Aug 13 (Reuters) - A large number of German solar companies are reporting second-quarter results on Thursday, with investors looking for signs of a sustainable upturn in the industry, which has been hit by a sharp slump in prices.
Here are five facts about the German solar industry:
* The German solar market is expected to become the world's largest in 2009, overtaking Spain, as measured by megawatts of installation, according to industry association EPIA.
* Germany is home to industry bellwethers such as Q-Cells (QCEG.DE), one of the world's largest maker of solar cells, solar inverter maker SMA Solar (S92G.DE) and SolarWorld (SWVG.DE), which makes silicon and solar panels.
* Germany's 15,000 solar companies employed 70,000 people in 2008. This number is expected to rise to 200,000 by 2020, according to German solar industry association BSW.
* Sales in the industry amounted to about 7 billion euros ($9.9 billion) in 2008, while the export quota of photovoltaic companies was 46 percent.
* According to BSW, photovoltaics will account for 1 percent of Germany's power consumption this year, with that share seen rising to 25 percent by 2050.
Germany leads the way in solar energy.
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