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What's Driving North America's Solar PV Market in 2012?
BM = Building mounted
What's Driving North America's Solar PV Market in 2012?
By James Montgomery, News Editor, Photovoltaics World
February 7, 2012
New Hampshire, U.S.A. -- The North American solar photovoltaic (PV) market tacked on nearly another full gigawatt (GW) of installations in 4Q11, echoing a late-year surge seen in other markets (think Germany and Asia), says NPD Solarbuzz. New Jersey, California, Arizona, and Ontario accounted for two-thirds of that demand; more than half (59 percent) was for large-scale ground-mount systems.
In the U.S. overall, thank the expiring US Federal Cash Grant for accelerating project activity to beat the year-end deadline. At the state level, California's Solar Initiative ratepayer program brought in an extra $200 million during the quarter, helping to pare down a long waitlist of customer-side distributed generation. Also, as part of California's Renewable Portfolio Standard target (33 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2020), the state is implementing several programs to stimulate distributed generation projects ranging form 1-20 MW.
In New Jersey, though, that 4Q11 growth might be short-lived, thanks to an oversupply of Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs). Neither NJ nor Pennsylvania has adjusted their RPS solar obligations to fix an SRECs oversupply, says Solarbuzz.
Moving above the border to Canada, large-scale projects completed during 4Q11 were already approved under Ontario's previous incentive program, the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program (RESOP). The feed-in tariff (FiT) program that replaced it spurred roughly 100 MW of smaller-scale residential and nonresidential projects in 2011, says Solarbuzz, while large-scale systems under the FiT have been slow to start due to regulatory and approval delays. Other areas such as project financing and product supply agreements are showing progress, though, suggesting projects are well advanced and should install in 2012...
By James Montgomery, News Editor, Photovoltaics World
February 7, 2012
New Hampshire, U.S.A. -- The North American solar photovoltaic (PV) market tacked on nearly another full gigawatt (GW) of installations in 4Q11, echoing a late-year surge seen in other markets (think Germany and Asia), says NPD Solarbuzz. New Jersey, California, Arizona, and Ontario accounted for two-thirds of that demand; more than half (59 percent) was for large-scale ground-mount systems.
In the U.S. overall, thank the expiring US Federal Cash Grant for accelerating project activity to beat the year-end deadline. At the state level, California's Solar Initiative ratepayer program brought in an extra $200 million during the quarter, helping to pare down a long waitlist of customer-side distributed generation. Also, as part of California's Renewable Portfolio Standard target (33 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2020), the state is implementing several programs to stimulate distributed generation projects ranging form 1-20 MW.
In New Jersey, though, that 4Q11 growth might be short-lived, thanks to an oversupply of Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs). Neither NJ nor Pennsylvania has adjusted their RPS solar obligations to fix an SRECs oversupply, says Solarbuzz.
Moving above the border to Canada, large-scale projects completed during 4Q11 were already approved under Ontario's previous incentive program, the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program (RESOP). The feed-in tariff (FiT) program that replaced it spurred roughly 100 MW of smaller-scale residential and nonresidential projects in 2011, says Solarbuzz, while large-scale systems under the FiT have been slow to start due to regulatory and approval delays. Other areas such as project financing and product supply agreements are showing progress, though, suggesting projects are well advanced and should install in 2012...
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/02/whats-driving-north-americas-solar-pv-market-in-2012?cmpid=SolarNL-Thursday-February9-2012
