2010: A Good Year For U.S. Solar Market

Good news on the solar industry front:

Solar electric installations reached 956 megawatts in the United States last year, including 878 MW of photovoltaic (PV) systems. More than 17 gigawatts of PV were installed globally.

Moreover, the U.S. solar market sector grew by 67% in 2010.  Unfortunately, as a result of our still immature renewable energy policies, the U.S. installed a smaller proportion of solar systems with respect to the rest of the world in 2010 than was the case in 2009: 5%, down from 6.5%.

Still, that 878MW  is 878MW more that is installed and generating power than there was in 2009.  Will it be enough to make a difference about global warming?

2009 CO Legislative Actions: Green Energy Bills

The Colorado legislature has been busy keeping Colorado’s New Energy Economy moving forward.  Recognizing the enormity of the risks climate change and foreign-supplied fossil fuels pose to Colorado’s health and safety, Democrats are pushing initiatives through that will benefit us all.  I tracked down the following bills that are or have been introduced in the Colorado legislature this year.  I’ve included basic descriptions of the bills to round out what’s going on. I’m going to go over the status of these bills in the future.

HB09-1149 “Solar Home Prewire And Consultation”, sponsored by Rep. Merrifield in the House and Sen. Morgan Carroll in the Senate would requires commercial home builders to offer prospective buyers the following:
1. The option of having the home include, or be pre-wired for, a solar photovoltaic installation; and

2. A list of local solar installers who can assess the home’s solar energy potential.

On a personal level, I’d rather see stronger language for increased solar power distribution in residences.  All houses should be pre-wired for solar PV.  There is simply too much infrastructure in Colorado’s metropolitan areas to not build solar PV out on a large scale.  Each panel would reduce the demand from GHG polluting power plants just that much more.  At the same time, I recognize that many people think these things probably need to be taken one step at a time.  The Governor’s Energy Office would maintain a list of expert solar system installers to be provided to anybody who requests a copy.  That’s a good idea.

More below…

World Solar Photovoltaic Market Grew to 6GW in 2008

World solar photovoltaic (PV) market installations reached a record high of 5.95 gigawatts (GW) in 2008, representing growth of 110% over the previous year.

So says solarbuzz.com in the introduction of their annual world solar photovoltaic industry report.  What portion of that capacity does the U.S. contribute?  A whopping 0.36GW.  You can look at a “positive”: the U.S. has the third largest share of any country.  But we’re a long, long ways back from the #1 and #2 countries.  Germany comes in at #2 with 1.86GW of solar PV, or nearly 6 times as much as the U.S.

Who is number one?  Spain.  Spain has 2.46GW of solar PV installations.  Their market share grew by 285% in the last year to help them surpass Germany.  The U.S. grew, but not nearly at this rate.  To really highlight how weak U.S. efforts are, South Korea came in at #4 with 0.28GW.

It’s a good thing those other industrialized countries don’t believe in the kind of unregulated capitalism and are squadering their money on stupid things like renewable energy resources.  After all, why would the U.S. want any of the $37.1 billion the PV industry generated in global revenues in 2008?  According to the fossil fuel industry, renewables will never be major market forces.  Nobody should waste their time on such things.  Well, too many powerful people in the U.S. bought into such talk.   America developed large-scale PV technologies years ago – a product of our world-class education system and research infrastructure.  With industry’s focus on quarter-by-quarter profits above all else, the rest of the industrialized and some of the developing world have taken the mantle of solar PV manufacturing and installation away from the country that worked so hard to introduce the technology in the first place.

The good news is there are plenty of grassroots-level Americans that have gone against the flow in the country.  A growing number of people will help build the solar PV industry up to its capabilities.  We’re behind the count, but we can still come out ahead in the next few years with more attention and effort.

[h/t Climate Progress]