In this week’s news roundup, a popular solar loan company hits an exciting milestone, and the U.S. shattered its quarterly storage deployment record (yes, again!).
Sungage turns 10 years old
Happy birthday, Sungage Financial! This past week, the company–first in the nation to exclusively offer residential solar loans–celebrated its tenth year. Established in Massachusetts, the company now provides loans in 28 states plus the District of Columbia, and has expanded its financing options to include both roofing and solar batteries. Impressively, Sungage-financed projects have helped offset roughly three million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions to date.
Referencing the achievement, Sungage CEO Mike Gilroy stated, “This ten-year milestone is an exciting one to be sure….The sky’s the limit for the next decade, as solar costs have decreased, equipment is more efficient, and homeowners understand the benefits to the planet, their household budgets, and the value of control.”
U.S. storage broke (another) quarterly record
Q4 2020 was, unsurprisingly, a big quarter for batteries: according to a new report from Wood Mackenzie and the U.S. Energy Storage Associated (ESA), more than 2,100 megawatt-hours (MWh) of storage came online in the U.S. This beats the previous quarterly storage deployment record–Q3 2020–by 182 percent! What’s more, deployments from this quarter alone surpassed total deployments for 2018 and 2019 combined. While the majority of growth came from front-of-the meter systems, home installations continue to play an increasing role: residential energy storage segment grew 74 percent from Q3 megawatt-hour deployments, largely due to high interest from California homeowners.
It’s safe to say that we can expect more record-breaking quarters for the U.S. energy storage market. Dan Finn-Foley, Wood Mackenzie’s Head of Energy Storage, commented, “This is the hallmark of a market beginning to accelerate exponentially, and momentum will only increase over the coming years. The new largest battery in the world, the…1,200 MWh system newly installed at Moss Landing, likely won’t hold the title for long.”
