SEIA and GTM confirm steady solar PV growth in US; highlight possibility of 10GW installed by 2015

Oct 22, 2010 - Syanne Olson - pv-tech.org

Teaming up to deliver the new industry report entitled U.S. Solar Market Insight, the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research have backed up previous reports that all deliver one unanimous answer: the U.S. solar industry has shown important growth during 2010, despite the economical hardships faced in the country. According to the report, the U.S. solar electric market, which includes PV and CSP installations, has the potential to exceed 1GW of installed capacity in one year for the first time in 2010.

California has led the states in the most solar electric installations during the first six months of this year, totaling 12MW. New Jersey, Arizona and Florida closely follow bringing a grand total of 341MW installed during the first part of this year in the U.S. The report forecasts that 944MW of solar electric capacity (866MW of PV and 79MW of CSP) will be installed this year – a growth of 114% over the 441MW completed in 2009, and could reach 1.13GW by the end of this year.

The report has high aspirations for the second half of 2010, pinpointing a large CSP project, numerous large PV projects and the continued expansion in the residential and non-residential markets as leads to continue the steady growth. Additionally, the companies’ research prompted them to disclose that if the U.S. solar market continues to escalate as it has done this year, reaching an installed 10GW per year by 2015 is not just a hypothetical goal.

"Our U.S. Solar Market Insight reports will give solar companies invaluable data that will help this industry achieve its goal of installing enough solar to power two million homes every year by 2015," said Rhone Resch, SEIA president and CEO. "Detailed, regular updates are critical for a young but growing industry such as solar. For the first time, companies will have access to reliable data to plan for stable growth, cost reductions, and opportunities in new markets. Solar businesses armed with this data will have a distinct competitive edge in this increasingly competitive industry."