Solar Power Going Strong in the U.S., Says New Report

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A new report compiled by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) says that the U.S. solar power market achieved its second-best quarter in history, when it installed 742 megawatts of solar power and best quarter on record for the utility market segment. The report is called U.S. Solar Market Insight: 2nd Quarter 2012.

Utility installations hit 477 megawatts in the second quarter, with eight states posting utility installations of 10 MW or greater: California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico, and New Jersey.

In total, the U.S. now has 5,700 megawatts of installed solar power capacity, enough to power more than 940,000 households.

The report predicts the utility photovoltaic (PV) market will remain strong through the last two quarters of 2012. GTM Research predicts an additional 1.1 GW of utility PV to begin operating by the end of the year. Currently, there are 3400 megawatts of utility PV projects under construction and system prices are 10 per cent lower than the previous quarter. Altogether, a total of 3200 megawatts, or 3.2 gigawatts of photovoltaic, will have been installed in the U.S., up 71 percent on 2011.

“The U.S. solar industry is rapidly growing and creating jobs across America despite the slow economic recovery,” said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of SEIA. “More solar was installed in the U.S. this quarter than in all of 2009, led for the first time by record-setting utility-scale projects. With costs continuing to come down, solar is affordable today for more homes, businesses, utilities, and the military. Smart, consistent, long-term policy is driving the innovation and investment that’s making solar a larger share of our overall energy mix.”

For the fourth consecutive quarter, the U.S. residential solar market grew incrementally, installing 98.2 megawatts. California, Arizona, and New Jersey led residential installations nationally, with smaller-market states of Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Maryland demonstrating strong quarter-over-quarter growth.

Third-party solar ownership models such as leasing schemes are also becoming more popular and in states like California, Arizona and Colorado they accounted for more than 70 percent of total Q2 2012 installations. In California, the average installed price of a third-party-owned system was lower than that of a system purchased outright, that is, $5.64 per watt versus $5.84.

“We’re starting to see innovative PV business models take a substantial hold in the U.S. residential market,” said Shayle Kann, Vice President of Research at GTM Research. “The success of third-party residential solar providers has attracted more than $600 million in new investments in recent months. This influx of cash into the residential space signifies the growing acceptance of solar leases and power purchase agreements as a secure.

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Source: SEIA

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