The U.S. photovoltaic industry is expected to hit a milestone this year by surpassing the 1-GW mark, or generating enough electricity from the sun to power more than 200,000 homes. While California remains firmly in the lead as the nation’s largest solar power generator, the Northeast region is catching up and accounts for much of the milestone thanks to aggressive business and homeowner incentive programs, said speakers at the PV Power-Generation Mid-West & East conference, held in New York City on Nov. 8-9.
“The Northeast is the new California market,” Shaun Chapman, deputy director of government affairs at integrator Solar City, San Mateo, Calif., told attendees. New Jersey is by far the most active state in the region, as evidenced by its relatively new position as the country’s second-largest solar market. “If you are a serious [solar] project developer, you are doing something in New Jersey,” Chapman says.