2012 Record Year For Utility-Solar Installations

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2012 has been a record-breaking year for utility-sized solar power installations. Utility-scaled solar installations this year reached 8.5 gigawatts (GW), according to a recentPV-Tech article.

The preliminary data from Wiki-Solar noted that newly installed power plants exceeding 10 megawatts (MW) in size have so far reached a total installed capacity of 3 GW in 2012, far more than 2011’s 2.3 GW.

Meanwhile Euro and US companies were leading the way in utility-sized installations, with seven of the top companies being based in Germany. (See chart below).

Enerparc was number one, followed by Juwi Solar, First Solar, Sunselex, and Hanwha Q-Cells (formally known as Q-Cells) in the top five.

Rounding out the top ten were: Saferay in at sixth, with GP Joule at seven, Quanta Power Generation at eight, Belectric at nine, and Activ Solar at ten.

However, despite the record amount of large-scale installation capacity seen this year for solar, a great number of utility companies could be doing more to promote these types of installations, said Phillip Wolfe of Wiki Solar:

“It is interesting to note that some of the world’s largest utilities are not fully engaged, especially after reports that some German suppliers, which have been sceptical about renewable energy investments, are starting to lose control of their markets.”