Wednesday, May 16, 2012

US Solar Market Will Explode within Five Years

Within the next five years solar energy in a large portion of the US will be cheaper than power from the grid. Costs of solar panels and installation keep moving down, while the transportation costs of electricity move up. When solar power reaches the 'holy grail' of grid parity the solar market in the US will boost, and a sleeping giant will awake, experts predict.

"The awakening of the US solar market will be driven by grid parity within each region. Federal incentives provide a good foundation for the expansion of the solar industry but state-level incentives are still needed to truly make solar energy competitive in each regional market. Over the next five years we believe that solar power will reach grid parity in a large portion of the US market, thus opening up the opportunity for significant expansion of the industry in the years to come," says renewable energy advisor Eric Graber-Lopez of BlueWave Capital.

Former CEO of Sir Richard Bransons Carbon War Room Jigar Shah sees grid parity as a natural development: "Americans refuse to overpay for solar PV. Once the costs of solar PV are cheaper than the retail power prices - as they are for over 20% of Americans now - the local solar companies will significantly ramp up marketing campaigns," he expects.

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