For the first time, March saw solar power as being the only new large scale electricity generation added in the USA.
According to U.S. Government’s Office of Energy Projects Energy Infrastructure Update For March 2013 (PDF), 44 megawatts of large scale solar PV capacity was added during the month, bringing this year’s total to 264 MW.
Significant solar farms added during March:
– NRG Energy Inc’s 26 MW Borrego Solar in San Diego County, California
– City of Las Vegas’ 3 MW Las Vegas Waste Water Treatment Plant Solar in Clark County, Nevada. T
– KDC Solar LLC’s 5 MW North Jersey Media Group Rockaway Solar in Morris County, New Jersey
– 6 MW Kalaeloa Solar One in Honolulu County.
– 1.9 MW Bosch Maui County Solar in Maui.
– BLU Leaf Energy Inc’s 1.15 MW Tanque Verde Unified School District Solar in Pima County, Arizona.
– Weaver Cooke Construction’s 1.3 MW Greensboro Natural Science Center in Guilford County, North Carolina
Solar is still only a bit player in the USA’s energy mix – just .44%. The top three electricity generation sources, as at the end of March, are coal at 29.01%, natural gas at 42.41% and nuclear at 9.15%. Wind power has a respectable 5.18% share of the energy mix.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, 3,313 megawatts of PV capacity (small, medium and large scale) was added last year, 76% growth over 2011’s record deployment totals.
The U.S. had over 7,700 MW of installed solar electric capacity at the end of 2012, enough to power more than 1.2 million American households. More than 82,000 households installed solar panels across the nation last year.
SEIA and GTM Research forecast that the US market will continue to grow at a steady rate, with over 4,200 MW of PV expected to come online in 2013.
