U.S. Solar Installations Top Natural Gas For First Time In History

For the first time in history, the U.S. installed more solar than natural gas capacity in 2015. According to a new report by GTM Research, U.S. solar installations increased 17 percent last year to 7,286 megawatts, the 15th consecutive annual record.
 

The report indicates that nearly a third (29.5 percent) of all new electric-generating capacity in 2015 was supplied by solar.

Despite the big year for installations, solar and solar storage-related stocks were mixed in 2015. While names like SunPower Corporation SPWR (+16.7 percent) and Tesla Motors Inc TSLA (+9.4 percent) surged in 2015, other stocks like SolarCity Corp SCTY (-3.5 percent) and Sunedison Inc SUNE (-74.2 percent) struggled.

Related Link: Market Bull: S&P 500 Could Fall More Than 30%
 

Even in an extremely depressed oil and gas pricing environment, the residential solar market grew by 66 percent in 2015, exceeding 2.0 gigawatts for the first time ever. Residential solar now makes up 29 percent of the overall U.S. solar market. Utility-scale solar, which represented more than half of all U.S. solar installations last year, grew by 6.0 percent.
 

The total amount of U.S. solar installations now stands above 25 GW, up from just 2 GW just five years ago.
 

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.