Dec 4 2009
At a time when most energy investments have been curtailed by a weak economy, US utility photovoltaic (PV) activity has spiked over the last 18 months. With only 77 MW of utility-driven projects currently operating, US utilities have announced a pipeline of more than 4.8 GW of large, utility-scale PV projects.
This explosion of activity highlights the PV sector's changing landscape and the key role utilities are expected to play going forward, according to a new study from Emerging Energy Research, the leading provider of clean and renewable energy market analysis.
The scaling adoption and newfound acceptance of PV technology by utilities has been catalyzed by four primary factors according to EER's study: regulatory pressures at the state and national levels; widespread cost reductions in the PV sector; fossil fuel price volatility and overarching carbon concerns; and PV's siting flexibility allowing utilities to leverage multi-pronged strategies. EER has forecasted that utilities will add 21.5 GW of solar PV to their generation portfolios between 2009 and 2020. Led by utility involvement, the US PV market will accelerate between 2011 and 2015, growing from 2 GW in 2011 to 12 GW in 2015, a more than 460% increase.
"Unlike other larger, centralized power generation technologies such as natural gas, wind, concentrated solar power, and geothermal, PV offers scale and unique siting versatility," says EER Solar Research Director Reese Tisdale. "If PV's declining economic forecasts come to fruition to foster more widespread demand -- centralized, commercial, and residential segments -- utilities will want to be at the industry's forefront to shape the market in their favor," says Tisdale.