Solar Sets Growth Record

U.S. Solar Market Sees Best Q1 in History; Crossing the 2 million solar installations threshold was just one of many highlights on the quarter

June 18, 2019 (Solar Energy Industries Association/Wood Mackenzie)

In the first three months of the year, the U.S. installed 2.7 gigawatts of solar photovoltaics (PV), making it the most solar ever installed in the first quarter of a year…Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables forecasts 25% growth in 2019 compared to 2018, and it expects more than 13 GWdc of installations this year…[T]he U.S. saw 603 megawatts of residential solar installations during the first quarter, up 6 percent annually…[and] 29 percent of residential capacity in Q1 2019 came from markets outside the top 10 solar states by capacity, the highest share for emerging markets in industry history…The non-residential segment, which represents commercial, industrial and public sector distributed solar, saw 438 megawatts of PV installed on the quarter, which was down on both a quarterly and annual basis…

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...[T]his is largely a result of state-level policy reforms in historically strong markets for the segment including California, Massachusetts and Minnesota…[New community solar mandates] in New York, Maryland, Illinois and New Jersey are expected to] help reinvigorate the segment beginning in 2020…Total installed U.S. PV capacity will more than double over the next five years, with annual installations reaching 16.4 GWdc in 2021 prior to the expiration of the residential federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and a drop in the commercial tax credit to 10% for projects not yet under construction…” click here for more

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