With our Terminator vision turned on, we scoured the internet for solar market stats this week. Here’s what caught our eye.
Loans outpace leases in 2019
The numbers are in and loans accounted for 54 percent of the U.S. solar financing market in 2019, according to WoodMackenzie’s new report — a 31 percent jump from 2018. Loanpal stays atop the list of financial providers, but this new deal and contactless sales tool from Mosaic might change things a bit in 2020.
Speaking of this stupid year, Wood Mackenzie has reduced its 2020 and 2021 U.S. residential solar forecast by 31 percent and 26 percent, respectively, due to the economic impacts caused by the virus.
50,000 California homes adding storage this year
BloombergNEF predicts that at least 50,000 California homes will install storage sys-tems in 2020. That figure would quadruple the total from 2019. The forecast came on the heels of a year of record-breaking growth for home solar storage in the U.S, due to the increase need for blackout protection and utility rate hedging.
While the Covid-19 pandemic has likely delayed home storage installations statewide, the demand forces are still there. Bloomberg cited California’s catastrophic power shut-downs in 2019, and the adoption of “time of use” utilities pricing, as key motivators for the increased demand. The financial and energy resilience advantages of storage, combined with a California rebate program and federal investment tax credit, will likely persuade many of these home buyers to add a battery.
For insights on all of the best energy storage systems available, be sure to check our 2020 Residential Storage Buyer’s Guide (which is now a tad outdated after Generac’s recent update).
Development hurdles
Also according to BloombergNEF’s latest report (2H 2020 Corporate Energy Outlook), corporate energy demand is outpacing supply. The majority (56%) of renewable energy developers say project development is the top area of business that has been negatively impacted by coronavirus, according to LevelTen Energy’s PPA Price Index for Q2. But prices are on the rise. Across markets, wind and solar prices increased 10% year-over-year from Q2 2019 to Q2 2020.
Everything bigger in Texas
The currently installed fleet of utility-scale wind and solar projects in Texas will generate between $4.7 billion and $5.7 billion in new tax revenue to local government over their life-time, according to The Economic Impact of Renewable Energy in Rural Texas, a study from the Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation and Dr. Joshua Rhodes, with the Webber Energy Group at the University of Texas. This stunning figure is roughly equivalent to the funding level of the Dallas County budget for the next 7 years.
And the pipeline for renewable energy development in Texas is as strong as a steer. If all projects currently proposed and with interconnection agreements finalized are construction, existing and planned utility-scale wind and solar projects will pay between $8.1 billion and $10 billion in total tax revenue over their lifetimes. For landowners, that number grows to $8 billion to $13.1 billion over the existing and planned project lifetimes.
Microgrid market to hit USD 38 billion by 2026
Microgrid Market will witness an annual installation of over 13 GW by 2026 according to Global Market Insights, hitting $38 billion in value. Ongoing integration of sustainable energy technologies coupled with accelerating deployment of captive power generation sources will positively influence the technology adoption — like this BlockEnergy system that’s on the cover of our Summer Issue.
Increasing number of residential, commercial and industrial spaces is propelling the demand for a reliable, safe, continuous and cost-effective supply of energy, stimulating microgrid tech-nologies. Advantages of microgrid include reliability, enhanced energy efficiency, reduced con-sumption of electricity, security, cost-effectiveness, voltage control and congestion relief.
— Solar Builder magazine
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