The US PV Pipeline Grows to 43 GW
Figure 1: Completion Status for 43 GW U.S. Solar PV Project Pipeline
Source: NPD Solarbuzz United States Deal Tracker report.
Developers of solar PV projects in the United States are now being forced to transition more quickly from "pre-planning" and "planning" stages to "under-construction" or "installed" status. This transition is motivated by deadlines to qualify for the full U.S. Investment Tax Credit (ITC) of 30 percent.
"With just three years remaining until the full tax credit incentive rate declines, solar PV project developers in the United States are now planning to complete projects, or have a significant portion under construction, prior to the 2017 deadline," according to Christine Beadle, analyst at NPD Solarbuzz. "This deadline is causing a shift in focus to smaller projects that can be completed on shorter timescales."
Currently, a few mega-scale PV projects, exceeding 100 MW in size, are dominating short-term U.S. solar PV deployment. These projects include the Mount Signal Solar, Copper Mountain, Calexico, Desert Sunlight, and Topaz projects that are currently under development or proceeding steadily through planned construction phases. The ten largest U.S. solar PV projects account for more than 5 GW of new solar PV capacity coming online over the next three years.
However, the focus of solar PV project developers has now shifted to project sizes below 30 MW. During the past 12 months, the number of projects in the U.S. pipeline within this category has increased by 33 percent to more than 2,100 projects. Smaller PV projects have shorter planning phases and can be completed quickly.
Figure 2: Distribution of More Than 2,400 projects in the U.S. PV Pipeline (50 Kilowatts or Larger)
