How the Solar Industry Stands Heading into the New Year

1. How the Solar Industry Stands Heading into the New Year Trina Solar

2. 2020 US solar expansion forecast to be the highest annual increase to date Despite a tumultuous year, solar has remained resilient, with growing appeal and plunging costs. Although there’s still plenty of work to do to bring clean, renewable energy to the U.S. and the world, it’s always good to look at where we’ve been before moving forward.

3. Solar growth has surged with no slowdown in sight The growth of total installed solar capacity has been staggering. The main new source of electrical generating capacity overwhelmingly comes from renewable sources. Through the first eight months of 2020, more than 63 percent of new utility-scale capacity came from renewables, including solar, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). By the end of 2020, SEIA estimates total installed capacity to reach nearly 60,000 MWdc. Comparatively, solar only accounted for 4 percent of all new electric capacity added in 2010. Analysts further forecast renewable sources of energy to expand nearly 50 percent in the next five years. By 2025, solar, wind and hydroelectric sources combined are expected to surpass coal as the world’s largest source of electric power.

4. Utility-scale solar drives U.S. solar growth Behind the solar industry’s surging decade, utility-scale solar installations have been the main driver for this steady expansion. The country now has around 3,000 utility-scale solar plants after having only a couple dozen utility-scale solar plants operating in 2010. This surge in capacity can now power up to 13.5 million homes, a dramatic increase from the roughly 770,000 homes just ten years ago.

5. U.S. businesses pursue decarbonization goals Companies and governments across the country continue to pursue robust decarbonization initiatives. Due to their range of benefits, solar PV systems are serving as a major component for reaching these goals. While discretionary spending at companies might be down in 2020, these organizations will remain committed to their decarbonation pledges. Ten years ago, the country had roughly 336 MWdc of non-residential installed PV capacity, and this number has swelled to more 15,000 MWdc.

6. Record number of U.S. homeowners considering rooftop solar Now more than ever before, U.S. homeowners are considering installing rooftop solar PV systems. With employees working from home and many states with shelter-in-place orders, home energy use has jumped across the country. A survey conducted by Pew Research Center toward the end of 2019 found that 46 percent of homeowners have given serious thought to installing rooftop solar panels. A jump of 6 percent from 2016. Even without this shift in energy patterns, homeowners had already been flocking to rooftop solar. After only having 245 MWdc of residential solar capacity installed ten years ago, the number now sits at 12,591 MWdc.

7. Despite the pandemic, solar financing remains strong According to the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), investors remain as confident in renewable energy growth over the next three years (on average), as they were in 2018 and 2019. solar projects are now starting to attract institutional investors. This interest emphasizes just how stable solar returns have become, since institutional investors are typically conservative with their portfolios. As we’re at the dawn of a new decade, solar couldn’t be in a better position to maintain this strong growth throughout the next 10 years and beyond.

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