According to the Q2 2014 U.S. PV Leaderboard released this week, the top ten residential installers captured more than half of the U.S. PV market in that period. Even more impressive, just two companies, SolarCity and Vivint Solar, installed a combined 38 percent of the residential PV in the first quarter of the year.
With 29 percent of residential PV installations in the first quarter of 2014, SolarCity surpassed its overall 2013 market share of 27 percent, but it did not match its record-breaking 33 percent set in the third quarter of 2013.
The chart below shows the residential market share of the top ten PV installers.
Source: GTM Research U.S. PV Leaderboard
Rounding out the top five residential installers were Sungevity, Verengo and Solar Universe.
Though a flurry of acquisition activity has occurred in the space in the past year, the consolidation is happening "primarily due to the leading installers growing organically," said solar analyst Nicole Litvak.
As a whole, the residential PV market grew 38 percent year-over-year, as the chart below shows.
Source: GTM Research U.S. PV Leaderboard
“Most of the growth in the residential market can be attributed to the top installers, which have not only effective sales strategies, but also huge referral potential from a large base of existing customers,” said Litvak, who identified Sungevity, Solar Universe and NRG Home Solar (formerly Roof Diagnostics) as installers outside of the top two that experienced significant year-over-year growth in Q1.
Driven in part by expanding financing options, GTM Research forecasts the U.S. to install more than a gigawatt of residential PV in 2014 and more than 6.6 gigawatts across all segments.
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The U.S. PV Leaderboard tracks quarterly residential and commercial market shares for U.S. installers. Learn more here.