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US solar industry set to install 10 GW of solar annually by 2015

An industry-wide goal to install 10 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity annually in the U.S. by 2015 has been announced by Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) president and CEO, Rhone Resch.

Mr Resch was speaking at a conference in Honolulu. Image: Wikipedia/ErgoSum88.

The announcement was made during a presentation at the 35th IEEE Photovoltaics Specialist Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.

“Over the last few months, we have seen disaster after disaster caused by the fossil fuel industries and Americans are calling for a new direction for our energy future. And in communities across America, people are asking for an energy source that is clean, reliable, safe and creates economic opportunity. That energy source is solar," said Mr Resch.

He continued: “Even during the recession, the solar industry grew by 37 percent in 2009 and created 17,000 new American jobs. We are confident that we can reach 10 gigawatts of new installations annually by 2015, which will power two million households with clean, safe solar energy and support 440,000 domestic jobs. As the U.S. rapidly becomes the largest solar market in the world, the solar industry will help usher in a new era of clean, reliable power that will be the backbone of America’s economy.

“The leaders of the solar industry have set this target to show Americans that solar can and will become the nation’s largest source of new electricity generation by 2013. We are already cost competitive with fossil fuels, and by 2015 we expect solar energy to be the lowest cost source of retail electricity in all fifty states. But to reach our goal, we need to ensure that effective policy mechanisms are in place to give consumers the choice to go solar – a choice more than 90 percent of Americans support.”

He concluded: “The solar energy industry – invented and commercialized in the U.S. – is the solution for our country’s addiction to fossil fuels. It’s time we get this country moving in the right direction."

The IEEE Conference is currently underway at the Hawaiian Convention Center in Waikiki, Hawaii.