Solar installations top wind for first time in 2013 — report

Source: Mark Jaffe, Denver Post • Posted: Friday, March 28, 2014

Solar power is poised to overtake wind energy as the renewable energy source with the most financing and installation, according to a new report.
Clean Edge Inc., a research advisory firm, said more solar photovoltaic generating capacity than wind power was installed worldwide for the first time last year.”This was the crossover year,” said Ron Pernick, the firm’s managing director.Pernick said that although wind generation still makes up a market 2 ½ times the size of the solar market, trends are favoring solar generation.

“There is a high-tech component, economies of scale, falling prices and new financing mechanisms that are driving the market,” Pernick said.

Clean Edge’s report projects a 73 percent growth in the solar market over the next 10 years, with wind energy growing 60 percent (Mark Jaffe, Denver Post, March 26)