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  • Americans compete to install solar power on rooftops

    Rising electricity prices and harsh weather have caused American households to increase the installation of rooftop solar power to reduce dependence.

    The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that about 5.3 GW of residential solar power capacity will be newly installed in the US this year. This is a record high number, nearly equal to the country’s total rooftop solar capacity in 2015.

    According to the latest data from consulting company Wood Mackenzie, rooftop solar power installation capacity in the second quarter increased by 40%. About 180,000 homes in the US participated.

    EIA said residential electricity prices in the US are forecast to increase 7.5% this year, after increasing 4.3% last year. The reason for the increase in electricity prices is the skyrocketing price of gas – fuel for power plants.

    John Berger, CEO of Sunnova – one of the largest rooftop solar power installation companies in the US, believes that the electricity bills of US households will continue to be high in the next few months. “Our business has grown thanks to this,” he said.

    Executives and analysts also point to storms, hot weather and fires across the United States that have exposed major gaps in grid reliability. Last September’s storm left 2.6 million customers in Florida without power.

    Besides saving excess energy for later use, many households are still connecting solar panels to backup batteries to keep light bulbs running during power periods. Research group EnergySage said that currently about 20% of installed solar rooftop capacity includes storage, doubling since 2020.

    At a home in the suburbs of Houston, Kevin Lee said he installed solar panels and Tesla Powerwall batteries after a heavy storm shut down much of the Texas power grid in February.

    “I don’t want to go through this again. The tree with the solar panel system really helps my family feel safe when they come,” he said.

    A study by the US Department of Energy shows that they could develop up to 200 GW of applied solar power by mid-century, up from about 26 GW today. Of these, about 10-20% of total solar power capacity comes from the applied sun.

    Mary Powell, CEO of Sunrun, the US-based solar installation company, said it had easily surpassed its forecast of 25% growth in installed capacity expected for 2022. “My revenue has reached record highs in the past few months,” CEO Sunrun said.
    But even with strong development, rooftop solar power only accounts for about 1% of total electricity production in the US. Solar power is provided mainly from large-scale power farms. EIA expects about 21.5 GW of large-scale solar power capacity to be installed this year. Among them, sunny southern states such as California, Florida, and Texas are the fastest growing areas.

    The Solar Energy Industries Association said that the investment cost for a rooftop solar power system for a household is about 20,000 USD. Customers can borrow or take advantage of state and federal tax incentives. The recently passed Inflation Reduction Act increased the federal tax incentive for new installations of this power system to 30%, equivalent to a reduction of about $6,000.

    Households in some states can also reduce costs by selling excess electricity to electric companies. However, this policy caused power companies to react strongly. They argue that this is unfair as households are paid for generation but do not have to share in the costs of operating and maintaining the grid. In addition, businesses are also concerned that rooftop solar power could reduce the need to buy electricity from them.
    In April, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rejected a bill that would have revoked the policy forcing electric utilities to buy excess solar power from households. He said he did not want to increase cost pressure on people in the context of inflation.

    Sunnova CEO John Berger says electric companies are trying to prevent competition in the electricity sector. “Consumers have no choice; they cannot choose the supplier. Now they can do that, and I think more and more people want this right,” Berger said.

    Source: VnExpress

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