In any young, developing industry, turmoil is inevitable — in fact, turmoil is an indicator of growth. Those of us who work in the industry — and those of us considering solar for our home or business — sometimes get caught up in the details of our specific projects, and lose sight of the bigger solar picture. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)® has just released these statistics for 2011, which show that, for all the growing pains, solar is indeed growing! Take a look at these impressive stats — here are some highlights:

• Eight U.S. states installed over 50 megawatts of solar in 2011
• In 2009, only two PV projects over 10 megawatts were completed in the U.S. In 2010, the number rose to eight. In 2011, 28 such projects were connected to the grid.
• The U.S. installed 776 megawatts of solar in Q4 2011, up 64 percent over Q3 2011 and up 115 percent over Q4 2010. Every market segment had a record quarter, as did ten individual states.
• The U.S. installed 1,855 megawatts of PV in 2011, up 109 percent from the 887 megawatts installed in 2010. Growth occurred in every market segment and in 18 of the 23 states we track closely. The value of all PV installations rose to $8.4 billion, up from $5.0 billion in 2010.

Here is the entire list of top ten solar stats:

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/top-ten-us-solar-stats-from-2011/

The really good news is, clean energy is coming on strong! There’s no stopping it — it just makes too much sense.