- Solar installations experienced a 24% fall year on year.
- 52% quarter-over-quarter fall also.
The first quarter of 2022 marked the lowest in two years of solar installations in the US, as just 3.9 GW of direct current (DC) was installed. This report was given in the latest US Solar Market Insight by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie.
The report revealed that solar installations experienced a 24% fall year-on-year and 52% quarter-over-quarter as the price increased with the ongoing constraints in supply chains.
However, the US President’s announcement of a suspension of new solar tariffs gives hope and bankability for businesses to make progress in their projects that were delayed initially by the anti-circumnavigation investigation of the Department of Commerce. The investigation led many solar module manufacturers to suspend shipments to the US in a bid to avoid tariff risk.
The investigation, which has led to an uncertainty, made expectations for the 2022 solar installations cut to 15.6 GW, a 29% fall below the 2022 outlook from the last quarter.
According to Wood Mackenzie’s principal analyst Michelle Davis, the Biden administration’s announcement “is expected to create approximately 2-3 GW of upside potential to Wood Mackenzie’s 2022 base case outlook, assuming the global market resumes normal operations.”
The utility-scale segment experienced a steep decline in the first quarter of 2022, down 41% from what it was a year ago and 64% from the quarter before. The lowest installation amount was recorded in the third quarter of 2019 at 2,173 MW.
A 28% quarter-on-quarter reduction was recorded for commercial solar to 317 MW amd community solar declined 59% quarter-on-quarter to 197 MW.
Away from the reductions, the residential segment grew, with installations growing 30% year-on-year and 5% quarter-on-quarter to a record 1,247 MW. The major states of this growth were California, Florida and Texas.
According to the report, the solar industry is now looking at a potential passage of clean energy policies in a federal reconciliation bill, which could significantly boost deployment.