This report analyzes the North American ground-mounted PV utility market. The major segments in this market consist of pole ground mounting system, pile-ground mounting system, and other ground mounting systems. The report also describes the key factors influencing the market. Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2011 through 2016.

• Definition, estimates & forecast of the North American ground-mounted PV utility market from 2011 to 2016
• Analysis of sub-segments for Ground-Mounted PV Utility market 
• Analysis of the latest trends in the industry 
• Acumen into the size and shape of the market growth

This research is specially designed to estimate and analyze the demand and performance of the North American market for ground-mounted PV utility. The research provides in-depth analysis of market revenue, trend analysis by segments, and demand pattern in the U.S. The report covers all the major segments of the North American market and provides in-depth analysis, and statistically refined forecast for the segments covered. 

The in-depth research and high level analysis will allow North American ground-mounted PV utility product manufacturers, service providers, marketing companies, and research & development agencies to make informed decisions about manufacturing, marketing, growth strategies so as to gain competitive advantage.

The Solar PV market is witnessing healthy growth in the North American region with strong customer demand and financial support from the governments. The capacity of photovoltaic (PV) installed in 2011 were doubled as compared to 2010 with installed grid connected capacity to 2.34 GW. North American Ground-Mounted PV Utility Installations are expected to reach 4,068 Megawatt by 2016 from 912 Megawatt in 2011. The driving factor for the growth of the North American ground mounted PV utility market is the stability in government incentive policy for the solar energy sector. The government is increasing investment in utility scale solar plants, which has gone up by more than four times in 2010-11 as compared to 2009-10.

The other key drivers of the market include rising awareness about the negative impacts of carbon emissions and greenhouse gas, search for an alternative source of energy and benefits of using solar PV technology. PV technology is anticipated to be one of the key alternative sources of energy in the near future. With technological advancement in the energy sector, the efficiency and performance of ground-mount PV will improve, which will further boost growth.

The U.S. market demand for ground mounted photovoltaic installation has extended to several states beyond California. However in Canada, Ontario represents 99% of the national market with significant policy risk. The U.S. market is projected to encompass 82% of the overall North American PV installations in 2012. California will represent the biggest district market at 20% in 2012, followed by Ontario, with 18% and New Jersey with 12%.

The ground-mounted segment consists of large deployment of solar farms (greater than or equal to 1MW) to complement electricity requirements of large power companies and utilities. The remote land requires large area for panels to be ground-mounted. As a result of remote ground-mount deployments, the material safety and flexible form factor are less significant for solar farms. The efficiency requirements are normally low to medium due to the fact that the deployment areas are not a restraint. The ground-mounted segment comprises the second largest and fastest growing segment of the PV market. To get ahead in the ground-mounted market, new entrants must come up with essential skills of planning, developing, and operating large solar plants, either in-house or via strategic partners.

In ground-mounted systems, the expected efficiency gains provide less benefit than for residential systems for the reason that there are fewer restrictions and costs related to system area. Residential customers have a tendency to be more bound to an entire supreme system size as defined by the size of the home and the PV-suitable area. 

The economies of scale and automation are expected to lessen electrical and hardware installation and labor cost for PV systems in near future. Market players can integrate wiring subcomponents and prepare centralized sub-assemblies, thus decreasing system price and reducing the in-the-field electrical labor cost by half.

In recent years inverter prices in utility-scale have fallen radically. Utility-scale inverter prices are estimated to reach USD 0.10/WP DC by the end of the decade. The need for step-up transformers and switching gear has reduced with the increase in input voltages. This estimated reduction in inverter price will offer up to USD 0.22/WP DC in system price benefits with net of supply chain markups on materials and sales tax.

With improvements in electrical architecture, the cost of non-module, non-inverter components will reduce, increasing the string size to 1,000 V, or greater. This will reduce the gauge of electrical wiring. Incorporation of subcomponents as a share of a centralized construction strategy may decrease or eliminate some conduit. With the increase in the use of one-axis tracker technologies, the cost of these components will continue to fall.

Residential photovoltaic installations are usually small i.e. less than 5 KW, roof-mounted to supplement electricity usage to residential dwellings. Due to the limitation of roof area, module efficiency is significant for residential installation to achieve consequential power generation. At present, residential installations are the third highest in volume after the commercial and ground mounted segments. Other key concerns for residential installation include ease of installation and material safety. 

Non-residential photovoltaic installations range from medium to large i.e. several KW to a MW installation to supplement power requirements of enterprise (commercial) customers including large corporations and public sector companies. Key criteria for commercial segment installations include flexible form factor, material safety, and ease of installation that lowers the overall cost. Alike residential installations, most commercial installations are also roof-mounted. However, enterprise (commercial) roofs are relatively less space constrained in comparison to residential installations. The enterprise (commercial) segment currently accounts for the largest installations within the North American PV market.

 

These are typically small installations i.e. smaller than 1KW for rural or remote areas where grid power is unavailable to meet basic electricity needs such as charging batteries, operating small appliances, powering street lights, and other such applications. Consumer applications and military are also part of off-grid applications. This segment is relatively small and fragmented compared with other PV segments, comprising less than 3% of the total PV market.