Solar Tops Natural Gas for New Capacity in 2015

The United States added 7,286 megawatts of photovoltaic (PV) solar electricity production in 2015, topping new natural gas generating capacity for the first time ever. Some 29.5% of all new electricity-generating capacity came from solar PV last year.

The data were released Monday in advance of the March release of the U.S. Solar Market Insight report for 2015 by GreenTech Media (GTM) and the Solar Electric Industry Association (SEIA).

GTM’s senior vice-president for research said:

The U.S. solar market remains concentrated in key states, with the top 10 states accounting for 87 percent of installed capacity in 2015. But growth has been widespread, and 24 of the 35 states that we track saw market growth in 2015.

[nativounit]
Other key findings in the report include:

• The U.S. installed 7,286 megawatts of solar photovoltaics (PV) in 2015, the largest total ever and 17 percent above 2014
• The 7.3 gigawatts installed in 2015 is 8.6 times the capacity installed five years earlier in 2010
• Residential was once again the fastest-growing sector, installing over 2 gigawatts for the first time and growing 66 percent over 2014
• Utility solar PV also had a record year with over 4 gigawatts installed, up 6 percent over 2014
• 110 megawatts (AC) of concentrating solar power (CSP) capacity came on-line in late 2015 when SolarReserve’s Crescent Dunes project began sending electricity to the grid
• Non-residential solar was essentially flat for the third year in a row, installing just over 1 gigawatt
• Cumulative solar PV installations reached over 25 gigawatts by the end of the year, up from just 2 gigawatts at the end of 2010

California, North Carolina, Nevada, Massachusetts and New York led the U.S. solar market to its year-over-year growth rate of 17%. A total of 13 states installed more than 100 megawatts each in 2015. Utah, which jumped in the rankings from 23rd to seventh place, and Georgia, which moved from 16th to eighth in the nation, made the largest moves up in the rankings. Arizona, which ranked second in 2013 and fifth in 2014, dropped to sixth place this year.