The U.S. solar energy industry has grown tremendously in the past decade. That growth has actually been one of the most phenomenal economic growth stories across the whole U.S. economy. However, the “Covid Era” hit solar hard, and it has struggled to get back on the trajectory it was on.and Wood Mackenzie show a near leveling off of growth. As you can see, the forecast for 2022 U.S. solar PV deployment is very poor.
The solar industry forecast gets back on a solid growth path again from 2025 onward, but it’s not as big, bold, or ambitious as it once was., this forecast was based on the idea that the Investment Tax Credit would start declining in 2024. That tax credit has now been extended to 2032! The U.S. solar energy industry can rejoice, strong long-term growth can be banked on, and the next edition of this chart above should look much better — at least, for 2024 and beyond.
All of that said, note the black line graph overlaying the yellow bar chart. Commercial solar’s share of the overall commercial electricity market has risen strongly since 2018, going from 0.6% of the market to 1.1% of the market. So, clearly, it’s the broader commercial electricity market that’s been declining the most and the commercial solar PV market has fared much better than the norm.
Related to the charts higher up, this 4th chart shows that solar PV prices jumped up in 2021 and broke a long trend of declining commercial and utility-scale solar PV prices. We will see in coming quarters how solar PV prices trend as inflation and supply chain problems are resolved.Good Solar Growth Stories