The United States expects an unprecedented boom in the solar energy sector
The decrease in the American solar facilities constituted 6, 5 gigawatts in 2014, that is by 30% more compared to the previous year. The amount of new investments amounted to 18 milliard dollars.
According to the declaration of the country’s government, the USA is one of the world leaders in the solar energy sector. This fact is due to the countrywide solar panels installation, beginning with the local ones, which were installed in schools, houses and offices and finishing with the gigantic electric power stations like that one situated in Mojave.
However, the future of the American solar energy isn’t as bright as it may seem at first sight. Owing to a number of reasons, the amount of new “unemployed” solar panels is constantly decreasing. The difficulties in the financing of small commercial projects and the economy collapse make part of these reasons. At the end of 2106 the term of the federal support for the industry expires, which implied a 33 percent- investment tax credit. In that way, the main part of the expenses will be imposed on the development engineers and on the consumers of solar energy.
Nevertheless, the industry representatives and the analysts forecast the growth of the American solar energy market in near future, and they expect the increase in the facilities by 31% in the current year. A fall in prices for solar panels and modules and new business-models, which make the collaboration between businessmen, politicians and ecologists more effective, and which provide access to the cheap capital.
Shayle Kann, Senior Vice President at GTM Research notes that over a span of five years the photoelectricity market without taking into account solar power stations decreased fourfold from 3 milliard dollars in 2009 to 13, 4 milliard dollars in 2014. Moreover, the volumes of the energy production by solar power stations surpassed the coal and wind facilities. Thus, the natural gas remains the only fierce competitor.
A similar growth is observed in the states where solar power stations are a common phenomenon, for example in California and Arizona, and in the states where the alternative energy sector is quite a novelty, such as in Virginia, Louisiana, Georgia and Carolina. Some of these states provide the state support for solar energy in the commercial and residential segments. It is worth mentioning that the states possessing the most developed network of solar power stations are California, North Carolina, Nevada, Massachusetts, Arizona and New Jersey. Their total volume of the solar energy production is 88 megawatts. Such states as New York, Texas and Hawaii do not lack behind, they generate around 100 megawatts each.
A significant growth is also observed in the residential segment, where the total capacity exceeded 1 GW. It is the most thriving sector of the U.S. solar energy, which shows a twofold decrease over three years in sequence. The public sector remains insignificantly behind, it increases by 1 GW annually. In 2014 the facilities of 3, 9 gigawatts were put into operation. The projects that have the total operating capacity of 14 gigawatts are being constructed.
"Nowadays a greater number of people is employed in the solar energy sector than in such companies as Apple, Facebook and Twitter taken together. We produce the energy volumes sufficient to power 4 million American households and thereby we reduce the degree of carbon dioxide emissions by 20 million tons daily", declares Rhone Resch, the president of the American Solar Energy Industries Association.
