The United States solar energy market grew a strong 67 percent in 2010, making it the fastest-growing power sector, based on the report of the Solar Energy Industries Association. The trade group’s U.S. Solar Market Insight report confirmed that solar’s market size ballooned from $3.6 billion in 2009 to $6 billion in 2010.
Growth was driven by government incentives, stronger demand, and falling prices, according to its authors.
Photovoltaic cell installations more than doubled, from 435 megawatts in 2009 to 878 MW in 2010, outpacing the growth of other market segments like solar thermal.
The association said the PV market is likely to double in size again this year.
Around 78 MW of concentrated solar power was added this year, while more than 65,000 homes and businesses added solar water heating or solar pool heating systems.
Six states currently have operating concentrated solar power projects. In comparison, 16 states each installed more than 10 MW of PV in 2010, up from four states in 2007.
Market diversifying
The solar industry group said this shows the growing diversity of the United States’ market and demand for PV products. Last year, California hosted 259 MW of PV capacity, more than those of all other states combined.
New Jersey, however, followed with 137 MW from 57 megawatts in 2009, making it the fastest growing state, as market share of the top 10 states fell from 92 percent in 2009 to 85 percent in 2010, another indicator of growing market diversity, says the report.
«This report shows that solar energy is now one of the fastest growing industries in the United States, creating new opportunities for both large and small businesses,» said Rhone Resch, SEIA president.
«This remarkable growth puts the solar industry’s goal of powering two million homes annually by 2015 within reach.»
A federal treasury grant program, which reimburses up to 30 percent of the costs of installing solar systems, helped drive up the number of projects, the report said.
Set to expire at the end of 2010, the 1603 Treasury program was recently extended to 2011.
Lower product prices have also spurred demand for solar power products. The installed price of PV systems, for instance, fell by 10 percent for commercial and eight percent for residential installations last year.
Manufacturing of PV components also increased compared with the prior year. Wafer production edged up to 97 percent, solar cells at 81 percent and solar modules at 62 percent. Its growth was attributed to a strong global and domestic demand.
From 7.1 gigawatts in 2009, global demand jumped to 17 GW in 2010, while domestic demand doubled to 878 MW from 435 MW, which also played a large role in pushing companies to increase manufacturing capacity, according to the report.
Last year, the country’s wafer capacity increased by 82 percent to reach 1,018 MW, cell capacity by 32 percent to reach 1,657 MW and module capacity increased by 20 percent to reach 1,684 MW.
The United States’ market share of global installations fell from 6.5 percent in 2009 to 5 percent in 2010.
