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US solar installations reached a record high during 2020, as favorable economies, supportive policies and strong demand in the second half of the year offset the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Installations grew year-on-year by 2020 during 2020, reaching a record 19.2 gigawatts of new capacity, according to a report released Tuesday by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenize.
Just during the fourth quarter, the US added just over 8 gigawatts of capacity – a new quarterly record. To put the number in context, quite a few 7.5 gigawatts were added during 2015. One gigawatt is enough to power about 190,000 homes. The US currently has 97.2 GW of total solar power installed, enough to power approximately 17.7 million homes.
California, Texas and Florida were for the second consecutive year the three best states for annual addition of solar power. Virginia and North Carolina rounded out the top five.
After a slowdown in the second quarter as pandemic operations came to a halt, residential solar power had a record-breaking sales record in the second half of the year, bolstered by customers interested in home improvements. The authors of the report believe that this momentum in the middle of the year is likely to have continued into 2021.
On the solar power front, the annual addition of capacity increased by 65% from the previous year.
“The recent two-year extension of the investment tax credit (ITC) will increase the acceptance of the sun until 2025,” said Michelle Davis, senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie, referring to the tax credits extended in December as part of the coronavirus relief and the government. spending package.
According to the report, the two-year credit extension at the current level will lead to 20% in the forecasts for solar deployment between 2021 and 2025.
In the United States, 43% of solar power represents the total new power generation capacity added in 2020, which was the largest share of the new generation capacity ever. In many places, solar power is now the cheapest form of new power.
“Solar power sales in homes continue to outperform expectations as lenders roll out attractive products, interest in home improvements and customers suffering from power outages due to extreme weather conditions, seeking energy stability,” the report said.
For the first time, SEIA and Wood Mackenzie’s report also looked at growth forecasts up to 2030, with the forecast that by the end of the decade the US solar market will quadruple its size from current levels.
The growth is expected to spread across markets as customers, utilities, states and corporations all try to make the network carbon-free. President Joe Biden called for an emission-free power sector by 2035 as part of its $ 2 billion infrastructure and climate package launched in July last year.
“The compelling economy for distributed solar power and the solar power on the scale, as well as the ban on carbon dioxide oxidation by many stakeholders, will deliver a significant installation rate of more than 50 GWdc by the end of the decade,” Wood Mackenzie’s Davis added.