2009 – Another great year for the US solar industry.

While overall solar investment may have declined worldwide in 2009, the US solar market continues to grow apace.

2009 saw a 38% increase in PV capacity even though the recession was still in full swing. Combining the results of concentrated solar power and photovoltaic power, solar power capacity in the United States grew 37 percent, primarily driven by strong demand in the residential and utility-scale sectors.

There’s a lot to be optimistic about in the solar energy business, and here are some facts and figures from 2009 that show why.

Tied with a belt showing impressive growth

Overall, there was a 38 percent growth in grid-connected PV installations, with grid-connected residential PV doubling to 156 megawatts (MW) from 78, but non-residential ones showed a slower growth rate, bring in 2 percent less than 2008 growth figures. The utilities sector showed the most impressive grid-connected growth, tripling from 22 to 66 MW.

There were mixed results for solar thermal, with solar pool heating growing 10 percent less than in 2008 and solar water heating 10 percent over the same period. Problems affecting the housing and construction industries were said to be responsible for the slowing growth of solar pool heating.

The US solar thermal market is lagging behind the rest of the world in growth figures, even though it has grown significantly more than in previous years. However, in the future, the market is expected to show growth of 50 percent per year, most of that growth will take place in California, which is the largest part of the US market.

Solar energy concentration on the rise

Thanks in part to a development pipeline of more than 10,000 MW, the total US concentrating solar capacity reached 432 MW, with 3 new CSP plants coming online.

Utilities are adding more solar to their power mix, and solar is the fastest growing segment, and the companies plan to substantially increase the solar segment of their mix in the coming years.

More solar energy means more solar jobs

With the solar industry showing an overall revenue increase of 36 percent, about seventeen thousand new jobs were added to the solar industry. The total number of workers now employed in America’s solar industry has reached 46,000, with another 33,000 employed in related sectors.

Most solar power companies report sizable employee increases and more jobs are expected to be added next year. Increases in factory jobs mean increases in jobs in the field, such as installers and designers. This is driven by increased demand for solar products in the US.

Despite recent economic woes and the general slowdown in the economy, the US solar industry continues to grow, even if that growth is not as rapid in some sectors as in others or as significant as in previous years. Could it be that the solar industry is really recession proof? Well, not quite, but the fact that it can keep growing even in a tough economy bodes well for when the economy finally gets back on track.