According to SEIA, the solar industry market share has reached an annual growth rate of 33% in the last decade. This growth can be attributed to declining costs, increasing demand for clean electricity, and government programs such as the Solar Investment Tax Credit. With more than 140 gigawatts of solar capacity installed nationwide, the solar market now provides enough energy to power 25 million residences. As of 2021, over 10,000 companies in the solar industry, spread across every US state, employ over 235,000 Americans.
Fluctuations in Solar Prices
In 2021 the solar industry generated nearly 33 billion of private investment in the American economy, causing the cost of installing solar to drop more than 50% over the past decade. Unfortunately, shipping and supply chain challenges caused by the global pandemic and trade instability seem to be undoing some of this progress, leading to rising costs across the solar industry. Solar utility prices have seen a 7% rise time-over-time. Despite this, thousands of networks are deploying nationwide as the solar industry spreads into new markets. Before the government introduced incentives in 2010, an average-size residential solar system cost around$ 40,000. now the identical systems are roughly$ 25,000. Solar utility prices now range from$ 16 per MW to$ 35 per MW, making solar prices competitive with all other forms of power generation. Despite the progress over the past decade, 2022 solar installations have still been heavily impacted by the cost increases over the past year, causing the figures to come in below projections from a year ago. Thankfully, the new power generation’s solar share has grown despite the challenges.
Solar Industry Market Share
Solar has added the highest generating capacity to the grid for three successive years. The industry is on track to maintain this trend through 2022. Despite the industry’s difficulties, 50% of all new electric capacity added to the grid in 2022 came from solar, the largest such share in history. The solar industry has increased its share of total US electrical generation from just .1% in 2010 to nearly 5% today.
As of today, half of the US states have installed one GW or more of solar, as opposed to only three states a decade ago. With the added demand for the solar industry, more countries will enter the industry. In the past, California has dominated the US solar market. However, 2022 has seen major growth in Texas, Florida, and New York. According to SEIA, in March of 2023, the North Carolina Utilities Commission issued final orders in its “Smart $aver” program. The Commission approved a three-year path for solar customers to transition from yearly credits to a more dynamic time-of-use rate structure that incentivizes the use of solar when it’s most precious. The “Smart $aver” program is just one illustration of countries making great strides to expand the solar request.
As demand for solar products increases worldwide, more homes and businesses will upgrade to use the latest solar technologies. Solar companies must be increasingly innovative to keep up with the growing demand for high-quality solar products.
