The Solar Industry Keeps Growing

The Solar Industry Keeps Growing

For the last 10 years, Roller Die + Forming has been making parts for solar racking companies. We’ve watched the solar electricity industry grow from its infancy to helping put solar on roofs, in fields, and in huge solar farms. Since the introduction of the Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in 2005, and its subsequent extensions, the installation of solar in residential, commercial, and utility situations has grown in an almost exponential fashion.

In addition to tax credits, solar growth is stimulated by consumer awareness and state-sponsored initiatives to move towards clean energy. Further, with increasing installations, economies of scale mean prices of solar panels and racks continue to drop.

The growth in utility-scale solar installations is perhaps the biggest driver behind solar growth, accounting for almost two thirds of the total market 1 over the next few years. “In 2018 alone, the United States increased solar PV capacity by 10.6 GW which was added to the previous total of 53.8 GW. The current total of 64.2 GW is able to power 12.3 million homes, and U.S. PV capacity is expected to more than double over the next five years – by 2024, more than 15 GW of PV capacity will be installed annually.” 2

Roll forming is an excellent way to make parts for solar racking systems. Parts can be designed in a modular fashions, allowing one set of tooling to create multiple parts with many different lengths. Further, Roller Die can hold industry standard tolerances on our parts, and sometimes even better, meaning that over hundreds of acres of panels, your parts will still line up correctly. To learn more, contact a member of our sales team today.