A recent article from Solar Novus Today discussed that the nature of the global solar market is becoming more distributed. While the total size of the market will remain steady between 100 GW and 120 GW across the year, the number of markets with solar power at a capacity of at least 1 GW will increase from 6 to 2016 to 15 in 2019.

This penetration of solar into new and more markets is a great boon to the solar manufacturing industry and the upstream supply chain sectors in terms of viability and stability, but does this type of distribution end up affecting the larger grid efficiency?

When we typically talk about distributed solar, it's on a more micro-scale and how the installation of solar in more local markets helps increase efficiency through: rapid response to consumption/demand trends, reduced transmission & distribution losses, and more widespread access to clean energy. But what about the macro-view of how solar power is being distributed-- are there any inherent efficiency gains we can point to when the solar power capacity is 'distributed' more widely across the world, from region to region and country to country? Are there ways in which this helps reduce wasted energy & wasted resources?

Looking to Energy Central's Energy Efficiency Community to weigh in!