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Jun 1, 2014

#Solar power installation takes #Energy lead for first time

Think Progress - The first quarter of 2014 was another big one for the U.S. solar industry, with 74 percent of all new electricity generation across the country coming from solar power. The 1,330 megawatts of solar photovoltaics installed last quarter bring the total in the U.S. up to 14.8 gigawatts of installed capacity — enough to power three million homes, according to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association.

In addition to being the largest quarter ever for concentrating solar power, a method of large-scale solar generation that uses a unique 'salt battery' to allow the solar plant to keep producing power even when the sun goes down, it was also the first time in the history of SEIA's reports that residential solar installations surpassed commercial in the same time period. 232 MW of residential PV were installed in the first quarter, compared to 225 MW of commercial solar.