U.S. Solar Market Trends

 

Source:  Larry Sherwood
Presented at ASES Solar 2006
 

Photovoltaic installations have grown steadily. Since 2001, grid-connected installations grew at an average rate of 52%. California has 79% of the installations, with Arizona, New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Oregon accounting for most of the remaining installations. 

Measuring the number of installations, the pool heating market is the largest solar market, but the market share of photovoltaics is increasing each year due to financial incentives and other public policy initiatives.

However, state data for solar installations have not been published for many states. Industry, government, and non-profit organizations are all working to increase the number of solar installations across the U.S. State installations data help these sectors learn more about the state markets and evaluate the effectiveness of financial incentives and education initiatives.

Larry Sherwood's paper, conducted for DOE's Solar Powers America Initiative, details U.S. solar installations for 1998-2005.