Deployment and jobs predictions with an extension of the solar ITC.
Today Congress voted for an extension of the solar investment tax credit (ITC) as part of a larger spending bill. What does this mean for the solar industry? SEIA shared some of the potential impacts, listed below:
- The ITC extension will lead to more than 72 GW of PV installations from 2016 to 2020. This represents an increase of over 25 GW (or 54%) over baseline expectations without the extension.
- By 2020, the U.S. will have installed about 98 GW of PV and 2 GW of CSP, adding up to 100 GW of solar electric capacity. That is enough to power 20 million U.S. homes.
- By 2020, the U.S. will be installing 20 GW of solar capacity each year. For perspective, 20 GW was the total amount of capacity installed in the U.S. in history.
- Solar will provide 3.5% of all U.S. electricity by 2020, up from 0.1% in 2010. This represents an increase of over 3,000% in just a decade.
- The ITC extension will add 220,000 solar jobs over the next five years.
- Total solar industry employment in 2020 is expected to reach 420,000 workers, more than double the number today and 180,000 more jobs than would be expected without the ITC.
- The ITC extension will spur an estimated $40 billion in additional investment in the U.S. economy between 2016 and 2020, compared to baseline projections.
- By 2020, estimates show the U.S. solar industry adding more than $30 billion annually into the U.S. economy.
- Assuming the lift of the oil export ban increases global CO2 emissions by 10 million metric tons (MMT) annually, the ITC extension is estimated to fully offset those additional emissions on an annual basis by 2019.
- By 2021, the U.S. solar generation will offset more than 100 MMW of CO2 annually, which matches the emissions of 27 typical coal power plants of 20 million passenger vehicles.