South Carolina

After years of steady, relentless growth, the U.S. residential solar market is struggling with challenges on both the policy and customer acquisition fronts. And as the market diversifies away from California and the Northeast, the future is far from clear.

South Carolina and Pennsylvania also saw significant increases in solar permits granted, but California and Colorado both dropped by nearly 30%, according to the latest OhmHome report.

The pending closure of the company’s office in Charleston is the latest sign of a changing approach to residential solar from the market leader.

The 71 MW project in Jasper County will be joined by a 10 MW project, both of which the power company plans to complete by the end of the year.

ESA Renewables will construct the project, which is projected to produce 23,100 MWh annually, enough to power 2,400 single-family homes per year.

S. 44, a bill which would exempt residential renewable-energy installations from property tax assessments, passed the South Carolina Senate last week.

The Palmetto Conservative Solar Coalition, headed by a former congressman, cheered the National Solar Job Census’ finding that South Carolina had added 1,000 jobs last year and called for the legislature to support the solar industry with free-market approaches.

The announcement by Kansas-based Tradewind Energy that it will build an $84.5 million, 75-MW solar farm in Orangeburg County, S.C., is the second solar-farm announcement in six days.

The EZ Own Loan program is designed to capitalize on the increasing desire of residential solar customers to own their systems without worrying about the trouble of maintaining them.

More than 1,800 residential customers and 125 business customers have taken advantage of the utility’s Solar Rebate Program to reduce solar installation costs significantly.