The U.S. installed 10.6 gigawatts of solar PV capacity in 2018
The United States saw a two percent drop in solar installations between 2017 and 2018, while U.S. residential solar rebounded
Residential solar installations dipped in 2017 in the United States as a result of changes to Tesla's solar business. One year later, Wood Mackenzie and SEIA's new Solar Market Insight report finds that residential numbers rebounded in 2018 as 314,600 American homes installed solar, reflecting the efforts of regional and national installers. Meanwhile, utility-scale solar contracted in 2018, due in large part to the impacts of Section 201 tariffs. The new report notes that the U.S. solar industry installed 10.6 GW of new PV capacity overall in 2018, marking the third year in a row of double-digit gigawatt growth for the industry.
Market to double over the next five years
U.S. cumulative operating solar photovoltaic capacity now stands at 62.4 GWdc, about 75 times more solar than was installed at the end of 2008. The U.S. solar market will more than double over the next five years. For more information, download the executive summary or purchase the full report (which includes Q1 2019 data, state-level breakdowns of installations, costs, manufacturing and demand projections).