Trends in the market structure of US residential solar PV installation, 2000 to 2016: An evolving industry

Abstract

The US residential solar photovoltaic (PV) installation grew from fewer than 100 firms in 2000 to about 3000 firms by 2016. The rapid expansion of this emerging industry prompts questions about the installation industry's market structure, such as how market shares are distributed among installers and how interinstaller competition affects PV deployment. This article leverages a rich dataset to describe trends in the evolution of the US residential PV installation industry. The data show that most residential PV installers are relatively small companies, with about half of installers installing fewer than 5 systems. At the same time, a subset of high‐volume installers have accumulated market share, especially from 2010 to 2016. Causes of this recent market concentration are explored, with an emphasis on the role of the emergence of alternative customer financing options in the United States.

Optimization of Useful Daylight Illuminance for Vertical Shading Fins Covered by Photovoltaic Panels for a Case Study of an Office Room in the City of Wroclaw, Poland

“…In general, the results of the glare analysis DGP/DGI confirm the results that were obtained using UDI300-3000. The variants with fins from 4 to 7 were characterized by very high or high values of DGP (61, 60, 56, 47%, respectively) or DGI (32,31,27,26, respec- In general, the results of the glare analysis DGP/DGI confirm the results that were obtained using UDI 300-3000 . The variants with fins from 4 to 7 were characterized by very high or high values of DGP (61, 60, 56, 47%, respectively) or DGI (32, 31, 27, 26, respectively).…”

“…The three most popular types of photovoltaic cells can be distinguished: monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous silicon panels. They are widely used in numerous industrial and urban installations [27]. Reducing the weight of the PV cells, while also increasing the efficiency of solar energy conversion and the ease of installation has made photovoltaic panels an attractive architectural solution.…”

The impact of policies and business models on income equity in rooftop solar adoption

“…Further, not all installers offer leasing. Indeed, a relatively small number of high-volume installers account for the majority of leased systems in the United States [23].…”

Income-targeted marketing as a supply-side barrier to low-income solar adoption

“…First, the ownership preferences variable suggests that installers submit significantly fewer quotes to customers that prefer to finance systems through leases or power purchase agreements. This result was expected, given that relatively few installers offer leases and power purchase agreements (O'Shaughnessy, 2018). This result is also significant from an equity perspective: LMI households are more likely to procure PV through leases and power purchase agreements than high-income households (O'Shaughnessy et al, 2021).…”