Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) — Third-quarter solar installations in
the U.S. jumped 41 percent from a year earlier, including a
record number of residential systems, according to the Solar
Energy Industries Association.
Developers added 1,354 megawatts, the second-highest
quarterly total ever, the Washington-based industry group said
today in a report produced with GTM Research. A total of 16.1
gigawatts of photovoltaic systems are in operation in the U.S.
More than 300 megawatts of residential power systems were
installed in the quarter and have “become a remarkably
consistent, growing market,” Shayle Kann, senior vice president
of GTM Research, said in a statement. “By the end of this year
there will be more than 600,000 homes outfitted with solar, and
we see no signs of a slowdown next year.”
The U.S. is on pace to install 6.5 gigawatts of solar
capacity this year, which would be 36 percent more than 2013,
according to the report. Through the first three quarters, 36
percent of all generating capacity added in the country was
solar, compared with 29 percent a year ago and 9.6 percent in
2012. Developers added 2.1 gigawatts of solar power in the
fourth quarter of last year.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Justin Doom in New York at
jdoom1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Will Wade, Steven Frank