U.S. Solar Industry Hits Major Milestone With 5 Million Installations

Solar developers in the United States have reached a milestone of 5 million systems, the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie have reported.

According to the release, the SEIA and Wood Mac expect this number to double by 2030 and triple by 2034, with the pace of installations quickening significantly. Last year, the SEIA and Wood Mac said, solar additions represented the biggest chunk of new power generation capacity growth.

However, this prediction may turn out to be too optimistic in light of the latest tariffs on Chinese imports including solar panels and batteries. This would be welcomed by U.S. solar panel producers but not so welcome by solar developers that benefit from the cheap imports.

Following the news of the new tariffs, SEIA officially commended the move but thanked the federal government for delaying some tariffs that would have hurt the industry.

“The Administration was thoughtful to include a tariff exclusion process for key machinery that companies need to manufacture solar components in the United States. A temporary tariff exclusion will help reduce production costs and incentivize increased investment in domestic manufacturing,” SEIA president Abigail Ross Hopper said.

Solar is a key element of the Biden administration’s transition plan but despite the generous support, demand has been wobbly recently as states phase out certain incentives. Even so, the outlook remains robust, according to SEIA and others.

Earlier this year, Environment America said in a report that rooftop solar could come to cover 45% of total U.S. electricity demand eventually. That’s based on 2022 demand levels and would represent a massive increase since right now solar only covers about 1.5% of consumption.

However, demand in the future will probably be very different from 2022 demand—thanks to AI. The FT recently cited Goldman Sachs calculations regarding the energy consumption of AI data centers that suggested demand could rise so strongly that it would take capacity equivalent to all utility-scale solar additions last year to cover it.

By Irina Slav for Oilpice.com

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