Yesterday SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association) released it’s 2007 U.S. Solar Industry Year in Review, and it’s looking good for the US’s progress in implementing solar tech. According to the report, the US solar market has gone up a whooping 45% in the last two years, thanks to new technology, and investment tax credits, among other things.

Some highlights from the report…

- U.S. Installed grid-tied PV grew 45 percent in 2007 from 2006 (See page 1, 4)
- U.S. Installed grid-tied PV increased by 12,714 installations in 2007, more than 2 times the 5,813 installations in 2005 (See page 4)
- Big-box retail stores led the PV installation boom including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Home Depot and others.
- U.S. market is fourth in world (after Germany - 1st, Japan - 2nd, Spain - 3rd); Germany installs 8 times as much as the U.S. (See page 3)
- States that expanded their solar energy incentive programs in 2007 were N.J., Fla., Md., N.Y., Nev., N.C., Wash., N.M. (See page 3)
- Top states for 2007 installed grid-tied PV: Calif. (87.1 MW); N.J. (16.4 MW); Nev. (14.6); Col. (12.4 MW); N.Y. (4.4 MW) See page 5.
- 4 GW (4,000 MW) of utility-scale CSP plants are in the pipeline (See p. 6)
- U.S. PV manufacturing increased 74 percent, led by thin-film production (See page 1, 5)

The report makes some predictions too, such as the potential creation of around 62,000 new jobs (in the solar industry) by 2015 if the tax credits and incentives keep coming. Though it does explain that unless those tax credits are extended into the long term by congress, there could be a loss of up to 116,000 jobs (nearly 40,000 from the solar industry directly).

If you’re interested in solar tech at all and wonder what’s been going on, especially on the financial and government side, check out the full report. It’s 8 pages of great info, with shiny graphs and lots of references to check out.

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