Solar energy to make huge strides in U.S. market, report says
The U.S. is poised to overtake Germany as the world’s largest solar energy market, a study from GTM Research says.
GTM Research, a subsidiary of Greentech Media, issued this week a report entitled The United States PV Market: Project Economics, Policy, Demand and Strategy Through 2013.
Driven largely by new residential and utility-scale solar power installations, installed solar capacity will more than double by 2013, the report suggests. This year, GTM estimates, 440 megawatts of solar projects were installed in the U.S. – a significant uptick from 2008’s 320 installed megawatts. But in 2011, 1,212 megawatts will be put into service.
The research firm credits government incentives as a driver of the booming growth in solar energy generation.
And state governments’ policies are driving solar adoption, too. While California will remain the biggest state market for solar projects, “second-tier” states will install significant amounts of solar power by 2012. Success for solar energy companies “is contingent on competing in the five to seven second-tier demand states … each supporting over 40 megawatts of annual demand,” said Shayle Kann, co-author of the report.