US adds over 2 GW of solar PV in Q2, sets off for 13.9 GW this year

The US has deployed about 2,051 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) power capacity in direct current (DC) during the second quarter (Q2) of 2016 for a 43% year-on-year growth, according to a new report.

GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) say in their latest US Solar Market Insight report that this is the 11th consecutive quarter in which more than a gigawatt of solar PV has been installed in the US. The former forecasts that a total of 13.9 GW of new PV capacity will be installed in 2016 for an 85% jump over 2015.

The 2 GW of Q2 installations include over 1 GW of utility-scale solar and around 650 MW of residential PV. In the non-residential market segment, California has surpassed expectations as it accounted for an unprecedented 50% of the segment’s quarterly installations. In the residential market, it saw a bit of a slowdown, but other states such as Utah and Texas helped compensate for that.

Overall, residential solar deployment went up by 1% quarter-on-quarter and 29% year-on-year. At the same time, the non-residential segment grew 5% quarter-on-quarter and 50% year-on-year.

According to SEIA’s interim president Tom Kimbis, the US will hit 2 million rooftop PV installations within the next two years thanks to solar’s cost-competitiveness.

“We’re seeing the beginning of an unprecedented wave of growth that will occur throughout the remainder of 2016, specifically within the utility PV segment,” said Cory Honeyman, GTM Research associate director of US solar research. He added that the second half of 2016 and the first half of next year are on track to achieve record solar capacity additions as more than 10 GW of utility PV is currently under construction.

Meanwhile, solar prices collectively fell by 18% compared with 2015. They are now 63% lower than they were five years ago.

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