Apr 17 2010
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has introduced its ‘2009 U.S. Solar Industry Year in Review’ report, highlighting a year that recorded strong growth in spite of the economic crisis.
The overall solar electric capacity in the U.S. increased by 37% (combining solar and photovoltaic power), this increase was attributed to the robust demand in the utility-scale and residential markets.
The highlights of the report include growth of shipments of solar water heating systems by 10% year-on-year; growth of photovoltaic installations (grid-tied) by 38%; and growth of PV module production by 7%.
Installations of residential grid-tied PV solar modules increased from 78 to 156 MW. Furthermore, the total grid-tied PV capacity of the utility market leaped to 66 MW from 22 MW. In terms of jobs, the solar market gave rise to 17,000 clean jobs in the U.S.
Solar electrical energy capacities for the states such as California, New Jersey, Florida, Arizona and Colorado stood at 220, 57, 36, 23 and 23 MW, respectively.
Source: http://seia.org/