The pandemic has forced a lot of industries to shut down between March 2020 and now. But this hasn't been the case in the renewable energy sector. In this industry, business is booming! In the third quarter of 2020, residential solar installations jumped 14%. Electric utilities were big buyers of solar as well. Utility-scale solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) totaled 9.5 gigawatts (GW) during the quarter. And in the first nine months of 2020, 6.3 GW of new wind capacity came online in the U.S. There is now a record total of 69 GW worth of projects in the utility-scale solar pipeline. Over the next five years, the U.S. solar market is expected to install 107 GW of new projects. There are now more than 60,000 wind turbines with a total capacity of 111.8 GW in operation in 41 states, Guam and Puerto Rico. Installation costs are dropping for both wind and solar. Solar panels are becoming more efficient. Wind turbines are getting better, and offshore wind farms will soon dot most of the Eastern Seaboard. These will all continue to boost demand for installations. And, besides residential and utility customers, there's a third group that just can't buy enough renewable energy: corporate America. |
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