The newly released "North America PV Markets Quarterly" report, published by NPD Solarbuzz, shows the US market for solar installations has grown by 15 per cent since 2012. That makes it the leading market outside the Asia-Pacific region.
During the fourth quarter of 2013 alone, installed solar PV reached a new record high of approximately 1.4 GW, which is equivalent to over 1 MW of solar panels being installed during each hour of daylight over the past three months.
“Each year, the final quarter in the United States results in a new quarterly record for solar PV installed,” said Michael Barker, senior analyst at NPD Solarbuzz. “The solar PV industry in the United States is, on average, now installing more than 1GW of solar PV each quarter.”
A few highlights from the Q4 North America PV Markets report:
- Large-scale projects dominated the U.S. market during 2013, accounting for more than 80 per cent of new solar capacity deployed.
- The ground-mount segment, which includes most of the utility solar PV installed, reached nearly 3 GW in 2013. The large rooftop market exceeded 500 MW, which is similar to levels seen over the past few years.
- The small-scale solar segment, comprising residential and small non-residential rooftops, accounted for approximately 700 MW in 2013, which is an increase of 10 per cent compared to 2012.
- More than three quarters of small-scale demand came from the residential segment.
- California once again led the pack in terms of installed solar PV in 2013; however, North Carolina was propelled into second place, due to strong utility-scale activity, overtaking both Arizona and New Jersey in the rankings.
- New Mexico and New York were new entrants, displacing Maryland and Colorado from the list.