Current:Home > StocksU.S. Solar Market Booms, With Utility-Scale Projects Leading the Way -AssetLink
U.S. Solar Market Booms, With Utility-Scale Projects Leading the Way
View
Date:2025-04-19 17:04:27
America could add 10 gigawatts of solar power every year by 2015, enough to power 2 million new homes annually, industry and market analysts have claimed in a new report.
The Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research, a Cambridge, Mass.-based market research firm, said the figures represent a tenfold surge compared to 2010, which is on track to set its own record.
A full gigawatt of solar may get installed this year for the first time, the report, U.S. Solar Market Insight, said—a roughly 150 percent leap from the 441 megawatts added last year.
One factor driving the boom is the ramp-up in large utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) setups.
“I would say we’re going to look back on 2010 as the year that the utility-scale market really emerged,” Shayle Kann, a managing director of GTM Research, told reporters in an Oct. 12 telephone press conference.
In the first half of 2010, over 23,000 PV systems were added, compared to about 28,000 in all of 2009. This includes an “unprecedented” 22 utility projects, the authors wrote.
“It’s hard not to be very bullish on the market,” Kann said.
Another factor propelling growth: The global financial crisis, among other factors, triggered a decline in solar panel prices. “This enabled the U.S. market to continue growing despite financial turmoil,” the report said.
All Eyes on U.S. Market
Tom Kimbis, director of policy and research at SEIA, said the eyes of the world are on the U.S. market. Investors are “hoping it will be the engine of growth over the next five years for the global market.”
But for now the nation still appears to be in fourth place. It made up 6.5 percent of global PV installations in 2009, behind Germany, Italy and Japan.
Concentrating solar power (CSP) technology, however, is another story.
Kimbis said: “We’re … quickly becoming the largest CSP market in the world. Roughly 80 megawatts are expected to come online in 2010. That’s ten times as much as came on last year, and we expect another tenfold growth of CSP in America in the next couple of years.”
A decades-old technology, CSP uses hundreds of giant mirrors to reflect and focus sunlight, which produces steam to drive electricity-producing turbines.
Spain is still the concentrating solar leader with 400 megawatts up and running. Currently, the U.S. has 10 gigawatts in various stages of development across the sun-blessed deserts of the Southwest.
Prop. 23 Could Throw “Kink in the Armor”
A total of 341 solar-electric megawatts were installed in the first half of 2010, the report said. California led the solar states with 120 megawatts, a 35 percent share, and continues to be the national model.
However, if Proposition 23 passes in November, it could derail some solar growth, the authors warned. The ballot measure would suspend California’s monumental global warming law.
“It certainly is going to hurt. There’s no question,” Kann said, adding that it would be particularly “dangerous” to large-scale projects.
“It would put a kink in the armor of what we’re expecting to be the quickest growing market segment in the country,” he said.
But Kann noted other states are stepping up their own solar efforts. “Geographical expansion and the growth of secondary markets” is the most important trend so far this year, he said.
In the first two quarters of 2010, 11 states separately installed more than 10 megawatts, compared with seven last year. New Jersey, Arizona, Florida and Ohio trailed California in the solar top five.
Treasury Cash Grant Needed
At the federal level, several policies have stimulated new solar capacity, but perhaps none as important as the Section 1603 Treasury cash grant, experts say.
The program, passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, gives developers cash instead of the standard 30 percent investment tax credit.
“The treasury grant program was essential to industry growth during 2009, and so far into 2010,” Kimbis said. The program is set to expire at the end of this year. “Congress needs to extend it,” he continued.
Kann said: “If the treasury grant program is not extended, financing will undeniably be the biggest bottleneck facing the PV market in 2011.”
The authors also called on the Department of Energy to fund the Loan Guarantee Program to help projects access hard-to-get capital, and to streamline its application and approvals process to keep the large projects in the pipeline moving.
The new market report, which will now be released on a quarterly basis, could be a first step in bringing attention to the U.S. solar situation, the authors suggest.
“There truly has been a dearth of good, granular up-to-date information on what’s going on in the U.S. solar market,” Kann said.
Image: langalex via flickr
See also:
Solar Energy Surging in Italy, Outpacing U.S.
Hawaiian Utility Fights Solar Industry Over Private Installations
U.S. Powers Up on Solar as Manufacturing and Installation Costs Fall
Breakthrough Solar Plant Stores Energy for Days
veryGood! (38)
Related
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- JetBlue-Spirit Airlines merger blocked by judge over fears it would hurt competition
- Heavy snowfall and freezing rain cause flight, train cancellations across Germany
- Biden to meet with congressional leaders on national security package
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- 3 men found dead outside Kansas City home after reportedly gathering to watch football game
- Slain Connecticut police dog remembered as ‘fallen hero’
- NYPD says 2 officers shot during domestic call in Brooklyn expected to recover; suspect also wounded
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- Here are 10 memorable moments from the 2024 Primetime Emmy Awards
Ranking
- Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military
- Coachella 2024: Lana Del Rey, Doja Cat and Tyler, the Creator to headline, No Doubt to reunite
- US national security adviser says stopping Houthi Red Sea attacks is an ‘all hands on deck’ problem
- Eagles center Jason Kelce set to retire after 13 NFL seasons, per multiple reports
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- Trump sex abuse accuser E. Jean Carroll set to testify in defamation trial over his denials
- Kobe the husky dog digs a hole and saves a neighborhood from a gas leak catastrophe
- Lawyers ask federal appeals court to block the nation’s first execution by nitrogen hypoxia
Recommendation
Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
JetBlue’s $3.8 billion buyout of Spirit Airlines is blocked by judge citing threat to competition
Bernie Sanders forces US senators into a test vote on military aid as the Israel-Hamas war grinds on
Which NFL teams have never played in the Super Bowl? It's a short list.
Spooky or not? Some Choa Chu Kang residents say community garden resembles cemetery
Slain Connecticut police dog remembered as ‘fallen hero’
Officials respond to pipeline leak at Point Thomson gas field on Alaska’s North Slope
The integration of EIF tokens with AI has become the core driving force behind the creation of the 'AI Robotics Profit 4.0' investment system