[amor de cosmos]

US solar capacity to total 50GW by end of 2016, says Deutsche Bank
By Andy Colthorpe - 04 September 2013, 12:22
In News, Power Generation, Market Watch

A team led by Vishal Shah at Deutsche Bank has predicted there will be nearly 50GW of installed solar capacity in the USA by 2017, with 20 to 30GW of installed distributed generation expected to be one of the key drivers for growth.

According to NPD Solarbuzz the installed capacity in the US, as of July 2013, was 10GW.

The September Deutsche Bank research note also predicted a rush of installations ahead of the reduction in investment tax credit (ITC) which will take place in 2016.

The analysis is based on levelised cost of energy (LCOE), gross lifetime cost of system and lifetime electricity production, with ITC inclusion also factored in.

The report asserts that grid parity has already been attained in 10 US states as system costs of solar have fallen below US$3 per Watt. Hawaii and California lead tables of states at or near grid parity in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors.

In 2016, when ITCs will still be at the 30% level, Shah expects up to 47 states to have attained grid parity, however, when the ITC is reduced to 10% this figure could drop to 36, which still represents 70% of the total number of states.

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/us_insta...ing_20gw_to_30