SEIA’s U.S. Solar Market Insight 2014 Year in Review

North Carolina Leads South, 2nd in Nation in New Solar Installations

Proving that effective, forward-looking public policies can provide a big boost to a state’s economy, North Carolina had the second most new solar capacity added last year in the United States, according to the recently-released U.S. Solar Market Insight 2014 Year in Review, and now stands poised to become the first state in the South to have 1 gigawatt (GW) of installed solar. “North Carolina is a case study of how solar works as well on the East Coast as it does on the West Coast – with the Tar Heel State now having more installed solar capacity than Oregon and Washington combined,” said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

In 2014, North Carolina added 397 megawatts (MW) of solar electric capacity, bringing its total to 953 MW – just 47 MW short of cracking the 1 GW barrier. That’s enough clean, affordable energy to power more than 110,000 homes. The report went on to point out that North Carolina’s biggest solar gains came in utility-scale installations. Of the new capacity added, 390 MW were utility scale, 4 MW were residential and 3 MW were commercial. Together, these installations represented a $652 million investment in the state in 2014.

“North Carolina is a case study of how solar works as well on the East Coast as it does on the West Coast – with the Tar Heel State now having more installed solar capacity than Oregon and Washington combined,” said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). “To put the state’s remarkable progress in some context, the 953 MW installed today in North Carolina is more than our entire country had installed by 2007. That’s an amazing achievement.”

[source: http://solarbuildermag.com/news/seias-u-s-solar-market-insight-2014-year-in-review/]