US installs record 2.7GW of solar in first quarter of 2019

The United States experienced its best first quarter ever for new solar installations over the first three months of 2019, installing a record 2.7GW of new capacity, the most new solar ever installed in a first quarter. Further, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables expects 2019 to see 25 per cent growth over last year, with more than 13GW of new capacity expected to be installed by year’s end. These are the two big highlights from the most recent US Solar Market Insight Report, published quarterly by Wood Mackenzie and the United States’ Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) to track the country’s solar industry. The news comes only a few weeks after Wood Mackenzie and the SEIA announced that the United States had hit the 2 million solar installations milestone. However, even though it was a big first quarter – when compared to other first quarters – installation figures for Q1’19 were down 37 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2018, while being a 10 per cent increase on the first quarter of 2018. “The first quarter data and projections for the rest of the year are promising for the solar industry,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association.