Opinion

Falling costs make sunny skies for U.S. solar industry

The solar panel system on the roof of the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building is among the projects helping to boost the growth of solar energy in Texas. The solar panel system on the roof of the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building is among the projects helping to boost the growth of solar energy in Texas. Photo: John Davenport, San Antonio Express-News Photo: John Davenport, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Falling costs make sunny skies for U.S. solar industry 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

As the United States continues a slow climb out of economic difficulty, one industry continues its steady ascent — the solar energy industry. And with more than 224 sunny days last year in San Antonio alone, Texas could play a big role in this ascent now and in the years to come.

In the past five years, the U.S. solar energy industry has experienced sustained growth thanks to rising demand, falling costs and new financing options. Since 2008, the amount of solar powering our homes, businesses and military bases has more than quadrupled, from 1,100 megawatts to more than 6,400 megawatts today. That is enough to power more than one million average American households.

In fact, the U.S. Solar Market Insight Report: Third Quarter 2012, recently released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research, revealed that more solar capacity was installed in the first three quarters of 2012 than in all of 2011. The industry expects to have installed more than one gigawatt of solar in the fourth quarter of 2012 alone, while in 2010 we installed 852 megawatts for the entire year. And we expect 2013 will be another year of record growth for our industry.

Some of this growth is attributed to the fact that the cost of a solar system has dropped by nearly 40 percent over the past two years. So while solar has become more affordable than ever for the end consumer, this rapid fall in prices — driven in part by heavy global oversupply — has strained margins for some solar manufacturers. SEIA expects some of these challenges to continue into 2013 as the industry matures and economies of scale come into play.

Despite the challenges, it's clear that solar is helping to turn the tide on our tough economy. America's solar industry now employs more than 119,000 workers throughout the country. That's 13.2 percent growth over 2011's jobs numbers and leaps and bounds ahead of the national average, making solar one of the fastest-growing industries in the nation. Many of the 5,600 companies that make up America's solar energy industry are small businesses spread across every state in the union, including 260 companies in the Lone Star State employing thousands of Texans.

Texas now ranks 13th in the U.S. for cumulative installed solar capacity, and the state has great potential to improve this ranking in the coming years by implementing policies creating a more favorable business climate for solar. To put it in perspective, Germany, which is smaller than the state of Texas, receives about 1,625 hours of sunlight each year and boasts more than 31,000 megawatts of total installed solar capacity. Meanwhile, Texas gets 2,850 hours of sunlight a year yet only has 121 megawatts of solar. The potential is there — now we need the political will to make it happen.

With costs continuing to come down and new financing options available, solar energy works today for more families, businesses, utilities and military installations than ever before. The U.S. solar industry is strong and growing, and we are putting Americans back to work every day. We are here to stay, in Texas and throughout this great nation.