Commercial solar installations in the US have doubled over the past two and a half years, from 9.8GW at the end of 2019 to 19GW by June 2022.
This is the conclusion of the latest Solar Means Business report of SEIA in the United States. The report found that since the end of 2019, technology and retail giants have led the growth of commercial solar projects, which now account for 14% of all solar capacity installed in the United States.
The recent increase is due to accelerated procurement of off-site solar, which now accounts for more than half (55%) of all commercial solar. Nearly 70% of off-site corporate solar has been connected to the grid in the past two and a half years.
Commercial solar installations are expected to double over the next three years, with nearly 27GW of off-site capacity commissioned by 2025.
In addition, passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is expected to have a significant impact on the construction of large ground-mounted power plant projects, as WoodMackenzie predicted earlier this year. On-site commercial solar development will increase by 24% over the next five years, while large-scale ground-mounted projects, including off-site corporate projects, are expected to grow by 51% over the non-IRA scenario.
SEIA Chairman and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said, "Solar Means Business highlights the incredible flexibility of solar energy, whether it's installed on a warehouse roof, carport or off-site facility, and it demonstrates how businesses can clean, The various ways in which affordable energy can meet demand."
Tech firm meta (formerly Facebook) has the largest corporate solar portfolio (3.6GW), more than three times the size of the next largest company on the list, Amazon, which has 1.1GW of solar capacity. Apple topped the podium with an installed capacity of 987MW by the end of June 2022.
Since having 177MW of capacity at the end of 2019, meta offtake solar capacity has grown 380% and now accounts for 3% of total U.S. solar installations, according to SEIA data.
The tech giant has also been active in the corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) space in Texas and Utah over the past few months, signing 156MW and 104MW of solar PV PPAs, respectively.
Additionally, retail giant Target is the commercial company with the most on-site commercial solar capacity for the fifth consecutive time, while Walmart's mix of on-site and off-site has kept the retail company in the top five for the past decade, now with 689MW of solar installed capacity.