U.S. Solar Energy Production Enjoys Biggest Ever 2nd Quarter Increase in 2017

The United States solar energy industry installed 2,400 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaics (PV) in the second quarter of the 2017 fiscal year, representing the industry’s largest-ever increase. The information comes from the most recent U.S. Solar Market Insight Report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). This represents a total increase in production from last year’s second quarter of eight percent. According to the report, all three market segments of the solar industry — commercial, residential and utility scale — experienced growth.

Following are highlights from the report:

• The non-residential solar industry market grew by 31% from Q1 to Q2, with a total of 437 MW installed.
• The United States added more than a gigawatt (GW, or 1,000 MW) of solar power in the Q2, the seventh consecutive quarter a one-GW increase has been achieved.
• Through the first half of 2017, solar energy constituted 22% of all new electrical generation capacity in the United States.
• Total PV capacity installed in the U.S. is forecast to nearly triple by 2022. The SEIA estimates that, in five years, 31 states will have more than 100 MW in annual solar markets, and 25 of those states will have capacities of more than one GW.
• According to the SEIA, the solar industries generated new jobs at a rate that is 17 times greater than the rest of the U.S. economy.

For more information on the U.S. Solar Insight Report for 2017 Q2 report click on the link below:

https://www.seia.org/us-solar-market-insight

QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE SOLAR INDUSTRY

• Solar energy is the Earth’s most abundant source of energy. The amount of solar energy that strikes the earth continuously exceeds by 10,000 times the world’s total energy consumption.
• In 1954, Bell Industries created the first silicon solar cell, which represented the beginning of the solar energy era.
• Since its development, solar energy was prominently used by the U.S. space industry in order to power spacecraft.
• The Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California’s Mojave Desert is currently the world’s largest solar farm, with a gross capacity of 392 MW.