US Solar Industry Grows Despite Economy

[jpak]

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/10/us-solar-industry-grows-despite-economy

According to a few announcements that have been made at Solar Power International this week, while the broader economy struggles, the solar industry keeps right on growing.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) along with GTM Research released a report that shows solar installations in 2010 are up more than 100% over 2009. The U.S. Solar Market Insight report compiled data for the first half of 2010 and shows significant growth in the U.S. solar industry despite the continuing malaise in the overall economy.

It appears very likely that when accounting for both solar electric and solar thermal installations, the industry could surpass the 1 GW mark for annual installations in 2010. While a big number, Rhone Resch, President of SEIA announced yesterday that the industry’s goal is to be installing ten times that number annually in 5 years. Resch said that installing 10GW annually by 2015 would create as many as 220,000 jobs.

The report's baseline forecast projects that 944 megawatts of solar electric capacity (composed of 866 MW of PV and 79 MW of CSP) will be installed in the U.S. in 2010. This represents a growth of 114 percent over the 441 megawatts of solar electric capacity added in 2009. The report's high forecast projects as much as 1.13 gigawatts being installed by year's end, a 156 percent increase over 2009.

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[diane in sf]

1. Thank you jpak--this is really good news. it makes sense that something that would lock in

power prices in a poor economy would be growing. The green aspect is just wonderful gravy for those looking mostly at the bottom line, as we approach price parity with older forms of power generation.

My personal plan to fix my expenses for the future is to make sure I have solar panels and an electric car before I retire.