3 Bigger Hitters in CA: SunPower

This morning, I got to tinkering around with some numbers from California Solar Statistics, a program of the state’s Energy Commission and Public Utilities Commission. What did I find?

Well, beyond a wealth of details on system size, average installed cost and California solar incentives, I verified that most solar home energy systems in the state use name-brand panels from large, well established manufacturers.

Here’s a breakdown of all California residential photovoltaic (PV) systems, by solar panel manufacturer:

3 Bigger Hitters in CA: SunPower, BP Solar & Sharp
I wasn’t that shocked to see California-based SunPower at the top of the list. But I was somewhat surprised to discover that the top three manufacturers — SunPower, Sharp and BP Solar — account for nearly half of all residential solar installations. The top ten manufacturers (in terms of total number of residential systems), meanwhile, account for around 80 percent of installations to date.

A few notes:

First, the data presented here go back to 2006, when the California Solar Initiative first came into effect. My guess is that a look at data only from the past year or so would reveal a rise in the number of installations from manufacturers like Suntech Power, Canadian Solar and Trina Solar relative to makers like Evergreen Solar and SolarWorld. (More on this in a later post.) Bottom line: I’d argue that the above chart tells us more about where we’ve been than where we’re headed.

Second, the stats here are for the total number of solar PV home systems installed statewide — not total generating capacity. That is, we’re talking about the number of individual California homeowners who looked at a particular solar quote and said, yes, I’d like to buy X system with solar panels from Y manufacturer. It’s entirely plausible that a manufacturer that ranks relatively low in total number of residential systems actually sells more panels than what meets the eye. Especially when non-residential solar PV systems are considered…

Finally, it’s worth noting that I’ve excluded commercial systems from this brief analysis. Fans of First Solar, a maker of solar thin-film panels, are sure to know that that company’s relative rank is much higher when commercial systems are taken into account.