San Francisco, CA, June 18, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The solar power industry has experienced meteoric growth over the past several years. In the past decade, the number of solar power systems entering the pipeline each year has increased more than twenty fold. To date, this growth has been tracked through information from state agencies that oversee incentive programs and electric utilities that monitor grid interconnections.
To compliment this top-line view, BuildZoom has tapped its repository of over 85 million building permits to provide a more nuanced view of solar's growth in a report released today.
Key findings include:
Evolution of regional patterns - About half of new rooftop solar systems added in the U.S. each year are in California, but solar is expanding throughout the country, and has recently taken particularly large strides in the Northeast. The Midwest and South are lagging in comparison.
Metro area rankings based on solar installations per capita - The highest ranked metro area is San Diego, which has almost 6.5 times more solar systems per capita than the nation as a whole. Among the metro areas that have more solar systems per capita than the US as a whole are sunny places like Phoenix and Las Vegas, but also some less obvious places like Baltimore and Boston.
Solar installation being performed by small, local firms - Other than SolarCity and Vivint Solar, which handle solar installation in-house, the majority of installations are being completed by smaller, local contractors working in partnership with larger, national brands.
Building permit data are a previously untapped, complementary source of information on the solar industry, which is valuable because it allows us to detect trends - often well in advance of traditional methods. According to BuildZoom Chief Economist, Issi Romem, "Building permits are required before installation can begin, and certainly before grid interconnection takes place. As a result, building permit data provide an early indication of grid interconnection numbers subsequently provided by utilities."
This report is part of BuildZoom's ongoing mission, to provide the general public with a marketplace for remodeling and construction services, based on transparency and accountability.
"Although our marketplace provides access to a broad range of contracting services, solar is a special case because of its growth trajectory," said Jiyan Wei, BuildZoom Co-founder. "In the past year, four of the top ten contractors in California based on permit issuance, were solar contractors."
The full report is freely available to the public and can be read here: https://www.buildzoom.com/blog/solar
About BuildZoom
BuildZoom is the intelligent marketplace for remodeling and construction services. The company simplifies the process of selecting a home improvement contractor and improving the outcomes of remodeling and construction projects. By gathering and analyzing information on 3.5 million licensed contractors and 85 million improvement projects, the company has brought new levels of transparency and accountability to a notoriously difficult industry. Based out of San Francisco, BuildZoom's investors include Formation 8, Y Combinator, Streamlined Ventures, Goldcrest Investments, Hydrazine Capital, Signatures Capital, DV Playground and several additional angel investors. To learn more, visit us at https://www.buildzoom.com