The solar industry in the United States surpassed 20 GW of operational solar photovoltaic capacity during the second quarter of 2015, according to the quarterly report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association.
The report says that 1,393 megawatts of photovoltaics were added last quarter. The residential sector installed 473 MW, which represents a 70 percent year-over-year increase. However, the non-residential market finished 33 percent below the year-ago quarter.
The researchers found that 40 percent of all new electric generating capacity came from solar. Twenty-one states have added more than 100 MW of solar photovoltaics. The top five states account for almost 75 percent of total installations.
Research continues in the photovoltaic sector. At the Clean Energy Summit last month, President Obama and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced MOSAIC, a $24 million program that will develop concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) technologies, according to the IEEE Spectrum.