The rapid growth in the photovoltaic industry has put solar exchange traded funds in the limelight. The momentum does not appear to be slowing down, with Elon Musk’s SolarCity (NasdaqGM: SCTY) projecting installations to expand 90%.
SolarCity stocks jumped over 22% Friday after announcing annual installed capacity could increase to 575 megawatts to 525 megawatts in 2014, up from the estimated 278 megawatts this year, Bloomberg reports. [Solar ETF is Almost Unstoppable]
The company installed 78 megawatts in the third quarter, exceeding estimates of 70 to 77 megawatts.
Fueling the demand, residential areas are installing rooftop solar panels at little to no upfront cost. For instance, in California, the largest solar market, 68% of new residential projects were installed through these plans over the second quarter, up 48% over the past two years.
“Leasing is the reason why we expect the high growth within the U.S. solar market to come more so from the residential side than the large scale projects you have seen in the recent years,” S&P Capital IQ analyst Angelo Zino, said in a Reuters article.