Ross, glad to see you doing some solar projects. I know there some anti-solar Luddites that lurk in our forums, but I am starting to see the handwriting on the wall. There are several precursors that I recently noticed.
Two large home improvement outlets here in Phoenix, Arizona carry laser aimed non contact thermometers for checking energy efficiency. When I went to buy one, both companies were temporarily sold out.
I checked with a local distributor of the Sanyo double HIT solar panels that you told me about and they were also sold out (although its possible that could be traced back to Tsunami/nuclear failure shortages).
Here and there I am seeing more units installed one-by-one and am seeing a lot more ads from installers.
However, the one thing that bothers me is that I am not impressed with the type of installation being done. The solar units are being tightly coupled to the roof surface. The results are:
The units transmit solar heat to the roof
The units themselves are less electrically efficient at higher temperatures
The units are not being used to create wall shade which in itself would lower electrical demand