rooftop solar systems

A paper on rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity and market penetration in the U.S., written by three National Renewable Energy Laboratory colleagues (Easan Drury, Paul Denholm and Robert Margolis), shows that fully 1 gigawatt (GW) of the world’s 15 gigawatts of solar PV was installed in the U.S. alone by December of 2009.

Massachusetts-based BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ) is adding four more solar systems to its growing sustainable effort.

Two of the new rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are currently being installed in Massachusetts. 

Enphase Energy, the California-based solar microinverter system company, has been on a roll.

After the federal government increased domestic incentives for installing solar power, solar panel sales (by capacity) rose to a record high in Japan last year.

Solar rooftop installations are trumping large commercial solar projects, much to the chagrin of public utilities.

In 2008, 33,500 rooftop solar systems were installed on American homes in 2008, this represents a 63% increase over 2007 installations.  In California, rooftop solar installations increased 95% in 2008, compared to 2007.