Description of Business and Basis of Presentation - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012 Reporting_Unit	Dec. 31, 2011
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of reportable segments	1
Accounts payable, related party	$ 52,915,000	$ 62,215,000	[1]
Minimum pre-tax profit covenant	1,000,000
Cathay [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Line of credit	7,500,000	6,000,000
LDK [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Parent company interest		70.00%
Accounts payable, related party	52,900,000	62,200,000
Contractually due and payable to LDK	26,000,000
LDK [Member] | Us And Greece (Member)
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Payble Due to LDK	35,400,000
LDK [Member] | Italian [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Payble Due to LDK	$ 17,300,000

[1] As recast to reflect the balances of Solar Green Technology S.p.A. ("SGT") beginning January 1, 2011 combined with the balances of Solar Power, Inc. beginning March 31, 2011, as required under the accounting guidelines for a transfer of an entity under common control (refer to Note 4-Acquisition of Solar Green Technology).