Factors Driving Commercial Solar Growth

The factors driving commerical solar adoption fall into 5 key areas: 

Economic:

• Volatile global energy prices and rising global energy demand
• Incentives; feed-in tariffs, net metering, rebate programs geared towards making solar more financially viable
• Solar approaches the cost convergence zone; large scale utility projects moving closer to economic viability (without rebates) 

Political:

• Geo-political climate: Kyoto Protocol, emission goals, cap-and-trade policies and green house gas initiatives driving global adoption trends 
• U.S. Federal Government activity; Key incentive programs serve as short/medium term stimulus
• Individual State initiatives such as the California Solar Initiative 

Technological:

• New, more cost effective and efficient solar module manufacturing technologies are emerging that make solar more economically viable
• There is also significant investment in alternatives to glass on glass silicon modules 

Social:

• Clean energy consumer revolution
• The Hollywood effect; Al Gore’s movie - “An Inconvenient Truth” 

Environmental:

• No noise
• No pollutants 
• No ongoing fuel requirements