Is Solar Energy Finally Gaining a Foothold in North America?

March 27, 2014 | by David N. Young, Vice President Global Strategy & Public Affairs | Blog
After a series of fits and starts, is solar energy finally gaining a foothold in North America? Aided by significant cost reductions and new technology efficiencies, the cost of solar energy appears to finally be gaining a toehold on the energy demands of America.
To put the issue in perspective, the U.S. Department of Energy recently announced that more solar energy production has been installed in the United States over the past 18 months than was installed in the past 40 years. Quite amazing.
According to the latest GreenTechMedia Research and Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) Solar Market Insight Year in Review 2013 report, photovoltaic (PV) installations continued their impressive growth, increasing 41% over 2012 to 4,751 megawatts (MW) of installed power in the United States.
According to the report, 100% of new electric generating capacity in Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Missouri, Vermont, and the District of Columbia came from solar energy. Cumulatively, 29% of all new electricity generation in the United States came from solar power in 2013, making solar the second-largest source of new generating capacity behind natural gas.
Therefore, CSDR’s improving efficiencies of transforming solar energy into electricity is beginning to pay huge dividends in this expanding marketplace. We have witnessed exponential growth in interest about our technology across all markets.
Our sales team has scored impressive agreements in America, Africa and Mexico over the past few months. Both government and commercial firms have an urgent need to utilize the sun’s power to lower their overall energy costs. So with all of the projections which indicate rapid growth for CPV, we believe the new foothold for solar in North America is but a glimpse of the coming boom.
The DOE has a right to gloat about their efforts to expand the solar marketplace and now they have some proof to quantify their agency’s support of this expanding market. It is on this growing platform of acceptance that our team can deploy our High Concentrated Photovoltaic technology and build a considerable presence in the years to come.