In the first quarter of 2011, the United States installed 252 megawatts (MW) of grid-connected photovoltaics (PV) or 66 percent year-over-year growth over Q1 2010 installations. Two major factors drove this growth: falling solar energy equipment costs and a rush to take advantage of the Section 1603 Treasury program that was expected to expire in 2010 (the program was eventually extended through the end of 2011).
All three PV market sectors (residential, commercial and utility) continued to grow, with commercial installations showing the strongest gains.
Unfortunately that growth is very uneven, with only a few states accounting for the bulk of the installations. Michigan wasn't one of them.
Geographically, the market was concentrated in a few key states. In Q1 2010, the top seven states comprised 82 percent of total installations, but that figure grew to 88 percent in Q1 2011, implying that established, leading markets gained an even larger share. The pace of installations grew more than 50 percent in 11 of the 21 states analyzed in the report.
The top seven? California led the way, followed by New Jersey with the strongest growth based on large commercial installations driven by a hot SREC market (Solar Renewable Energy Certificates, a RPS carve-out that provides a market to help finance projects. Jersey's market price on these certificates has been very high, but is expected to cool down by the end of this year), the rest are Arizona, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New York and Massachusetts. Note the northern states near the top - proof solar is not concentrated in the Sun Belt. All of these states have a strong renewable portfolio standard requirement; California, New York and Colorado want 30% or over by 2020.
The US is expected to double its global market share in 2011 as incentives in Europe dry up and manufacturers turn their eye to the domestic market.
Domestic PV module production in Q1 2011 amounted to 348 MW, a 31 percent increase over Q1 2010.
“With analysts predicting the U.S. to become the world’s largest solar market within the next few years, manufacturers are increasing looking to the U.S. to site their facilities,” said Tom Kimbis, SEIA Vice-President of Strategy and External Affairs. “They are finding significant value in manufacturing close to their expected source of demand. This strong demand continues to make solar one of the fastest growing industries in the United States and a source of thousands of good jobs from manufacturing and installation to engineering and sales”
It was also recently announced that solar jobs in the US have surpassed steel production jobs. That comes with a caveat though: This figure is the total combined solar jobs, including such things as installation and sales, where the steel figure is production alone. Add in the ancillary steel jobs and that number jumps to 160,000. But still...
With roughly 93,500 direct and indirect jobs, the American solar industry now employs about 9,200 more workers than the U.S. steel production sector, according to 2010 Bureau of Labor Statistics. The American steel industry has historically been a symbol of the country’s industrial might and economic prosperity. But today, the solar industry has the potential to overtake that image as we build a new, clean-energy economy.
I'm not hearing any news about any "relentless positive action" when it comes to increasing Michigan's share of this job-creating potential, but it's good to see the rest of the country moving in this direction.