Dive Brief:

• Utility-scale solar installations took a dive in the first quarter of 2015, according to SNL data, with barely 300 MW added to the grid — the lowest quarterly total since the second half of 2012.
• The United States now has more than 11,300 MW of solar capacity operating, and according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration output from facilities around the country more than doubled last year.
• SNL reports that while the Q1 numbers look disappointing, there are nearly 2.7 GW of utility-scale solar currently in construction. California and North Carolina are helping lead the solar renaissance, with a combined project pipeline exceeding 7 GW of solar capacity.

Dive Insight:

More than three dozen utility-scale solar projects came online in the first quarter totalling 304 MW of capacity, making it the lowest total completed since the third quarter of 2012, SNL reports in a Data Dispatch. The United States now has 11,387 MW of installed, large-scale solar power.

The largest facility to come online in the first quarter was the Copper Mountain Solar II facility in Nevada, which added 59 MW and is now fully operational.

The first quarter installed capacity figures look especially small considering the U.S. completed more than 1,800 MW in the fourth quarter last year, installed more than 3,800 MW for all of 2014. But SNL points out that with the investment tax credit being reduced to just 10% at the end of next year, announced projects exceeded 200 MW in the first quarter.

Despite that Q1 slowdown, the prognosis for utility-scale installations looks better over the next year and a half. SNL reports that 2,655 MW are currently under construction, and 6,322 MW of installations are in "advanced development," almost all of which is slated to come online by the end of 2016 to take advantage of the ITC.

The United States is in the midst of a solar boom, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration has estimated power from commercial-scale solar projects grew by 102% last year, over 2013 levels. And those numbers do not include behind-the-meter solar projects, meaning the actual amount of power produced was likely higher.

EIA said it expects continued growth in utility-scale solar generation, projecting it to average almost 80 GWh per day in 2016.

Utility-scale installations around the country are being led by California and North Carolina. Analysis from February showed California had over 24 projects under construction and 3.8 GW in its pipeline and North Carolina has over 20 projects under construction and 3.3 GW in development.