Key updates from this Quarterly Solar Industry Update presentation:
- The United States installed 14.8 GWDC of PV in 2016, an increase of 97% from 2015, representing ~$30 billion in deployed capital, along with another $2.2 billion in U.S.- manufactured PV products.
- The United States ranked 2nd globally in annual PV installations behind China.
- Cumulatively the United States had installed 40.4 GWDC at the end of 2016 and has installed over 1.25 million PV systems.
- 1.4% of electricity generated in the United States in 2016 came from solar facilities.
- While composing only 3% of U.S. installed electric generation capacity, solar compromised the largest share of electric generation capacity additions in 2016 (~40%).
- In Q4 2016, residential installation costs (excluding SG&A) for two of the leading firms was around $2.05/W with total costs ranging from $3.0/W to $3.5/W.
- PV modules continue their sharp decline in price from the second half of 2016 with many analysts estimating module ASP to be around $0.35/W.
- These low prices caused global module manufacturers to have their sharpest decline in gross margin since 2012.