US Solar To Hit Grid Parity 2014–2017 (+ More Solar PV Charts, Sort Of…)

Following my article on a GBI Research report about the Global Energy Storage Market to 2020 (April 2013), below is a teaser on another GBI Research report — a “Solar Photovoltaics Power Market to 2020” report (published in October 2012) that it recently just shared with me. (Note: CleanTechnica has a partnership with GBI Research*.)

Again, we don’t get to see any of the important numbers from the report (without purchasing it), but there are numerous interesting sample charts from the report that I get to share with you all below.

US Solar Grid Parity

First of all, here’s a fun one that shows that solar PV power should hit grid parity in the US (on average) between 2014 and 2017:

The distributed solar power revolution is on its way.

Global Solar PV Market To Boom

Naturally, with solar power prices dropping so fast and electricity prices rising (as well as government policies to combat global warming and promote clean energy), solar power’s fast growth is projected to increase around the world. As the following charts indicate, the global solar PV market in 2015 is projected to be more than double what it was in 2011, with strong growth going up through 2020 as well:

Thin-Film Solar To See Growing Share Of Solar PV Market

Interestingly, GBI Research also projects that thin-film solar models will see strong growth in market share again (following steep drops in conventional solar module prices related to massive oversupply and Chinese manufacturing), as well as some emerging solar technologies (e.g. CPV):

Solar Power Splits In Germany & Spain

The GBI Research report also delves into the solar PV markets in numerous leading countries. As a sample of that, here’s a sample chart of the 2011 German solar PV market segment split (residential vs commercial/industrial vs utility-scale solar):

And here’s one of the off-grid versus on-grid solar power split in Spain 2005–2011:

Yes, I’d also love to see the projections for such splits, as well as all the other country data and charts included in the report. Alas, investing in such a report isn’t warranted by my work needs and budget. However, if such an investment fits your needs, go ahead and buy the report!

*The partnership works as follows: you get a 10% discount on GBI Research’s cleantech market research reports, GBI Research sells more reports, and CleanTechnica gets a small cut of these report sales.