It was a pretty front-loaded week in the world of solar.

On Sunday, the Democratic Party of Japan stormed to victory, bringing with it an environmental policy that some say would require a commitment to a 20-fold increase in solar capacity. That sets up Sharp and other local companies to benefit from that rising sun they've got over there.

Monday brought news of another of those big solar project agreements that Suntech Power (NYSE:STP), Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ), and ReneSola (NYSE:SOL) have taken to announcing on a regular basis. This time it was LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) and a plan for up to 300 megawatts' worth of projects in Suqian City by 2015. Remember when LDK and ReneSola were just wafer manufacturers? Suddenly everyone's a project developer.

Also on Monday, Evergreen Solar (NASDAQ:ESLR) officially broke ground on the new 100 megawatt plant being built with its Chinese partner. Completion is expected next spring. Whether this move is enough to bring the company's costs down faster than panel prices remains to be seen. One report out this week estimates that average sales prices could drop below $1/watt in 2010. Life would continue to be uncomfortable for Evergreen (and most other solar shops) were such a scenario to unfold.

As for the rest of the week, the U.S. government dished out some renewable energy stimulus cash, but most of it went to wind power. Mitsubishi joined the solar space race, which I think is just silly. Solarfun Power showed that easy credit keeps flowing to Chinese solar companies, and First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) got its second CEO.

Finally, Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL) increased its authorized share count from the equivalent of 50 million American depositary receipts nearly 15-fold to 730 million American depositary shares (ADSs). The inference is that the ceiling of 50 million ADSs no longer looks conservative to management. The recent equity offering took shares outstanding to the equivalent of about 34.8 million ADSs. While I wouldn't expect the share count to explode into the hundreds of millions any time soon, a 44% rise that would take it past the 50-million mark over the next few years is not so hard to envision. Mind that share count creep, Fools.

Where do you see solar going in the coming months and years? Let me know with a comment below.