Positive news for California rooftop solar in Q2-- thus far

• With a data factor of one (California solar interconnection data through the end of April), the author makes hopeful reasonings about U.S. solar in Q2 as well as 2020.

Brad Heavner, policy director at the California Solar as well as Storage Association, shared some solar affiliation data with pv magazine-- updated with completion of April-- as well as it appears like California's behind-the-meter residential and also industrial solar market started 2020 on a strong, resilient note.

Heavner said, "I was amazed that there was not a large dip in April-- regardless of shelter-in-place orders that entered into effect at or near the start of the month."

Integrated solar affiliations for California's three big IOUs totaled 350 megawatts in the initial 4 months of both 2019 as well as 2020.

The golden state solar affiliation Jan-April 2019 vs. Jan-April 2020 (MW).

California Solar and Storage Association.

At a whopping 3.6 GW of brand-new solar photovoltaic capability, Q1 2020 was the biggest very first quarter ever before in the U.S by almost a gigawatt, according to SEIA as well as Wood Mackenzie's newest U.S. Solar Market Insight.

Yet there's problem ahead for the rooftop sector in 2020 (regardless of these California numbers), with SEIA expecting a 32% drop in 2020 compared to pre-Covid projections. It's the durable pipeline of utility-scale solar jobs that will allow the sector to show growth compared to 2019.

The report notes that just a "handful of states had actually started to execute stay-at-home orders by the end of Q1, meaning that the effects of coronavirus on Q1 2020 installments are limited and also are expected to be seen primarily in Q2 ″ in the form of building and construction hold-ups, loss of customer need and loss of access to task funding.

Regardless of all this, pv publication discovers utility-scale programmers adapting rather well and also a consistent stream of solar jobs larger than 100 MW in even the least most likely states. Though the pandemic has actually struck distributed solar the hardest-- with 31% less installations than 2019-- domestic installers and lead generators are checking in with favorable indications.

Timber Mackenzie anticipates 33% development in 2020, with almost 18 GW of installations anticipated-- due to a 14 GW utility-scale section.

As Heavner claimed, "California solar and storage space just maintains marching via all barriers.".