The U.S. installed 314 MW of PV in the second quarter of 2011, 69% more than Q2 2010.
According to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)’s latest quarterly U.S. Solar Market Insight report, cumulative grid-connected PV in the USA has now reached 2.7 gigawatts.
California led the states during the second quarter with 94 MW capacity installed, followed by New Jersey with 75.7 MW. New Jersey’s non-residential (not including utility projects) market bypassed California’s, making it the largest non-residential market in the USA for the first time.
While the PV sector overall demonstrated stunning growth, the residential solar power sector faltered for the second consecutive quarter, with 60 megawatts capacity installed, 5.7 less than the previous quarter. However, the U.S. Solar Market Insight report predicts greater uptake of home solar panel systems in the second half of this year and into 2012 as residential solar-leasing business models expand throughout the nation.
Google pouring over a quarter of a billion dollars into a major project seeking to put solar panels on residential rooftops under a leasing model will certainly go some way to moving things along in the sector in the time ahead.
With prices on PV components such as solar panels and solar inverters falling rapidly early in the second quarter and there generally being a delay on drops in the cost of equipment filtering downstream into installations, the authors of the report expect the impact to also help drive installations in the USA during the second of this year.
Additionally, a slowdown in major European markets such as Italy and Germany has seen many PV manufacturers focus on the U.S. market in the expectation it could be the largest market for photovoltaics in the world within the next few years.
U.S. Solar Market Insight is a quarterly publication, based on a survey of nearly 200 installers, manufacturers, utilities, and state agencies; detailing national U.S. solar trends and trends in the top 20 state markets.
