US Solar Photovoltaic Pipeline Grows to 43 Gigawatts: Enough to Power More Than Six Million Households, According to NPD Solarbuzz
Santa Clara, CA (PRWEB) November 25, 2013 -- The pipeline of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects awaiting completion within the United States has grown by 7 percent during the past 12 months, and now exceeds 43 gigawatts (GW), which is enough to power more than six million U.S. households. Whereas large projects in excess of 100 megawatts (MW) previously dominated the U.S. PV pipeline, growth is now being driven by smaller projects up to 30 MW in size, according to the latest NPD Solarbuzz United States Deal Tracker report.
The growing project pipeline remains a key factor in driving the positive outlook for the U.S. PV industry, which is now forecast by to become the third-largest solar PV market globally in 2014, after China and Japan.
"The increase in new solar PV projects being planned or under construction is driving double-digit annual growth forecasts for PV adoption within the United States," said Michael Barker, senior analyst at NPD Solarbuzz. "Large-scale PV projects exceeding 20 megawatts continue to dominate the pipeline, in terms of installed capacity, stimulated by state-based renewable portfolio mandates. Projects of all sizes have become increasingly viable, due to declines in solar PV system pricing in the past year."
Developers of solar PV projects in the United States are now being forced to transition more quickly from "pre-planning" and "planning" stages to "under-construction" or "installed" status. This transition is motivated by deadlines to qualify for the full U.S. Investment Tax Credit (ITC) of 30 percent.
"With just three years remaining until the full tax credit incentive rate declines, solar PV project developers in the United States are now planning to complete projects, or have a significant portion under construction, prior to the 2017 deadline," according to Christine Beadle, analyst at NPD Solarbuzz. "This deadline is causing a shift in focus to smaller projects that can be completed on shorter timescales."
Currently, a few mega-scale PV projects, exceeding 100 MW in size, are dominating short-term U.S. solar PV deployment. These projects include the Mount Signal Solar, Copper Mountain, Calexico, Desert Sunlight, and Topaz projects that are currently under development or proceeding steadily through planned construction phases. The ten largest U.S. solar PV projects account for more than 5 GW of new solar PV capacity coming online over the next three years.
However, the focus of solar PV project developers has now shifted to project sizes below 30 MW. During the past 12 months, the number of projects in the U.S. pipeline within this category has increased by 33 percent to more than 2,100 projects. Smaller PV projects have shorter planning phases and can be completed quickly.
For more information about the NPD Solarbuzz United States Deal Tracker report, contact us at one of our seven global locations, email us at contact(at)solarbuzz(dot)com, or call Charles Camaroto at 1.516.625.2452.
About NPD Solarbuzz
NPD Solarbuzz, part of The NPD Group, offers North America PV Markets Quarterly, Marketbuzz, Solarbuzz Quarterly, and other upstream and downstream photovoltaic (PV) market quarterly reports, providing the solar energy and PV industries with global historical and forecast data for the PV supply chain. For more information, visit http://www.solarbuzz.com or follow us on Twitter at @Solarbuzz.
About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group provides global information and advisory services to drive better business decisions. By combining unique data assets with unmatched industry expertise, we help our clients track their markets, understand consumers, and drive profitable growth. Sectors covered include automotive, beauty, consumer electronics, entertainment, fashion, food/foodservice, home, luxury, mobile, office supplies, sports, technology, toys, and video games. For more information, visit http://www.npd.com and npdgroupblog.com. Follow us on Twitter: @npdtech and @npdgroup.
NPD Solarbuzz and Marketbuzz are registered trademarks of The NPD Group.
Lee Graham, The NPD Group, http://www.npd.com, 212-333-4983, [email protected]
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