Zhitong Finance learned that according to a report released by Wood Mackenzie and the American Photovoltaic Industry Association on Wednesday, the US PV industry is expected to continue to grow in 2024; PV power generation accounts for more than 50% of the installed capacity added to the grid last year. This is thanks to US President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which provides generous tax credits for electric vehicles and clean energy technologies such as wind and solar energy. According to the report, 2024 is likely to increase the installed capacity by 5 GW from last year. The commercial, community, and utility-sized market segments are expected to grow at 19%, 15%, and 26%, respectively.

Michelle Davis, head of global solar energy at Wood Mackenzie and lead author of the report, said: “If the US PV industry has a more stable supply chain, more tax credit financing, and lower interest rates, we expect [PV installations) to increase by 17%. With supply chains constrained, tax-credit financing reduced, and interest rates unchanged, we expect a 24% drop.”

The PV industry added 32.4 GW in 2023, an increase of 51% over 2022, mainly due to increased supply chain stability as the project backlog was completed. Trade actions in 2022 hampered imports of photovoltaic equipment, such as imposing tariffs on imports from certain Southeast Asian countries and concerns about forced labor.

Last year, in the US, due to an increase in utility-scale PV installations, Texas ranked first in total PV capacity, an increase of 77% over 2022. California led residential and commercial installations in 2023, as consumers began using the state's current net metering rules before switching to the new net metering rules (NEM 3.0) in April of this year. However, the report says residential PV installations in California are expected to drop 13% in 2024 with the shift to NEM 3.0.