SEIA Reports Strong Solar Energy Growth In 2009
Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) just released the “2009 U.S. Solar Industry Year in Review”. The report indicates that despite the recession, there was still a strong growth in the solar industry in 2009.
*There was an overall increase of 37 percent in solar electric capacity in 2009. This included both photovoltaic and concentrating solar power. The primary demand occurred in the utility scale markets and residential market. This increase resulted in a 36 percent rise in overall revenue from 2008.
Capacity by Market
*Grid tied residential PV solar installations doubled from 78 MW in 2008 to 156 MW in 2009.
*Grid tied non-residential PV solar installations decreased by 2 percent.
*Grid tied capacity in the utility market tripled from 22 MW to 66 MW. The total across all solar technologies reached 17 GW, enough to provide power to 3.4 million homes.
Revenue and Jobs
*The U.S. solar industry added 17,000 new jobs in 2009.
*There are now 46,000 jobs in the solar industry and another 33,000 in other sectors that are supported by the industry.
*Growth in the solar industry resulted in an increase of 36 percent in total revenue reaching almost $4 billion.
State Capacity
California led in new solar capacity with 220 MW
New Jersey 57 MW
Florida 36 MW
Arizona 23 MW
Colorado 23 MW
Hawaii 14 MW
New York 12 MW
Massachusetts 10 MW
Connecticut 9 MW
North Carolina 8 MW
The United States ranked fourth in 2009 for new solar capacity with 481 MegaWatts.