[$US Solar Celebrates Records in 2013, Big Trends Coming in 2014]
New Hampshire, USA -- Solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in the U.S. topped 4.78 GW in 2013, an increase of 41 percent over 2012, according to the annual market review and outlook published today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. The industry won't quite maintain that torrid pace in 2014, but watch for progress on a number of important fronts, from long-anticipated investment innovation to a rebound in the midsize project sector to addressing changes to federal investment tax credits.
More than 2.1 GW of that was added in the final three months of the year, which is by a long shot the sector's largest quarterly tally. Concentrating solar PV (CSP) also had a big year, bringing 410 MW of capacity online, and also a big chunk of that late in the year. Approximately 140,000 individual solar installations were installed during the year, in which solar energy was the nation's second-largest source of new generation (29 percent) behind only natural gas.
"We're putting real megawatts in the ground, making real contributions to electricity generation, and contributing to a real economic result," said Arno Harris, SEIA board president and CEO of Recurrent Energy, in a conference call discussing the report results.
Cumulative solar PV installations are now 12.1 GW, plus another 918 MW of concentrating solar (CSP). Put another way, U.S. solar PV added roughly 40 percent to its cumulative capacity during 2013, while CSP hiked its cumulative capacity by 80 percent. Total individual solar installations now exceed 440,000. The solar PV market's size also grew substantially, from $11.5 billion in 2012 to $13.7 billion in 2013.
source by Renewable Energy World, James Montgomert, Associate Editor
New Hampshire, USA -- Solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in the U.S. topped 4.78 GW in 2013, an increase of 41 percent over 2012, according to the annual market review and outlook published today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. The industry won't quite maintain that torrid pace in 2014, but watch for progress on a number of important fronts, from long-anticipated investment innovation to a rebound in the midsize project sector to addressing changes to federal investment tax credits.
More than 2.1 GW of that was added in the final three months of the year, which is by a long shot the sector's largest quarterly tally. Concentrating solar PV (CSP) also had a big year, bringing 410 MW of capacity online, and also a big chunk of that late in the year. Approximately 140,000 individual solar installations were installed during the year, in which solar energy was the nation's second-largest source of new generation (29 percent) behind only natural gas.
"We're putting real megawatts in the ground, making real contributions to electricity generation, and contributing to a real economic result," said Arno Harris, SEIA board president and CEO of Recurrent Energy, in a conference call discussing the report results.
Cumulative solar PV installations are now 12.1 GW, plus another 918 MW of concentrating solar (CSP). Put another way, U.S. solar PV added roughly 40 percent to its cumulative capacity during 2013, while CSP hiked its cumulative capacity by 80 percent. Total individual solar installations now exceed 440,000. The solar PV market's size also grew substantially, from $11.5 billion in 2012 to $13.7 billion in 2013.
source by Renewable Energy World, James Montgomert, Associate Editor