U.S. solar power installations exceed 20 gigawatts
The sun rises over the photovoltaic solar panels at the 550-megawatt Desert Sunlight Solar Farm in Desert Center. The photovoltaic solar farm is one of the world’s largest, on 3,800 acres of federal land in Riverside County.
U.S. solar power installations continued to climb in the second quarter of 2015, reaching a new high compared with the same period in previous years, according to a report released Wednesday.
The total amount of solar-electricity capacity nationwide topped 20 gigawatts, or enough to power 4.6 million homes.
“The demand for solar energy is now higher than ever and this report spells out how crucial it is for America to maintain smart, effective, forward-looking public policies,” said Rhone Resch, president and chief executive of the Solar Energy Industries Assn., which published the findings.
“U.S. solar growth has exploded and more than 150,000 American solar jobs have been created. By any measurement, that’s a success for both our economy and environment.”
Part of the growth continues in the residential solar market, which set records in the second quarter. Residential solar grew 70% year-over-year with 473 megawatts installed. California by far leads the nation in all solar installations.
The solar industry report highlighted the popularity of residential solar in the state, despite the fact that residential incentives are no longer available in the service areas of Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and Pacific Gas & Electric. In the first quarter of this year, for instance, 94% of residential solar installations came online without incentives, the report states.
Nationwide, the non-residential market finished the quarter down 33% from the same period last year. But utility-scale solar still made up 52% of all solar installations at 729 megawatts.
“The utility PV market continues to be the bedrock driver of new installation growth. And in the second half of this year through 2016, growth will reach new heights as a higher share of what comes online stems from projects procured purely based on centralized solar’s cost competitiveness,” said Shayle Kann, senior vice president at GTM Research, which helped produce the report.
The solar industry and GTM Research expect solar installations for 2015 to exceed last year by 24%, or 7.7 gigawatts, more than a third of the current U.S. total.
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