The solar energy market had its best year ever in 2014. In the US, 32% of new power-generating capacity was attributed to solar power last year, ranking it second only to natural gas. More than 20 gigawatts of solar capacity have been installed throughout the country – an amount sufficient to power 4 million US homes.

According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, the cost of system installation fell by 10% last year, which has been a major contributing factor to the industry’s growth. This has also led to increased innovation by solar companies in making solar available and more attractive to customers.

SolarCity, the largest residential solar power provider in the US, recently announced that its sales grew by 120% in 2014’s final quarter. The company also nearly doubled its customer base during the year. Moreover, recently SolarCity agreed to partner with Incapital, a securities distributor and underwriter, in order to offer solar bonds to investors and thereby continue to generate cash for further solar expansion.

Meanwhile, the two largest US solar panel manufacturers have also created a joint venture. First Solar Inc. and SunPower Corp announced in mid-March that the venture – called 8point3 and known as a ‘yieldco’ – has filed for an IPO and will operate a selection of solar generation assets.

Yieldcos in the solar industry are used by companies as a financing mechanism designed to take into account the uncertainty of solar projects, particularly during the initial development phase. They are increasingly seen as preferable to alternatives such as real estate investment trusts and master limited partnerships.

In Canada, 65% of electricity nationwide is generated from renewable energy sources according to Statistics Canada, while the Canadian Solar Industries Association expects annual solar capacity to increase threefold between 2012 and 2025.

Canadian Solar Inc. is the largest solar company in Canada. The company’s shares jumped mid-March after the solar panel manufacturer announced strong fourth quarter earnings and plans to create a yieldco by the end of 2015 at the earliest. The spinoff will hold some of Canadian Solar’s power projects and will sell power to utilities in order to generate a cash flow stream. The yieldco will also be publicly traded, with Canadian Solar as a majority shareholder.

Canadian Solar’s 2014 reported revenue of $2.96bn was 80% more than reported for the previous year, while net income increased by five times to $244mn. Last month the solar giant also agreed to acquire Recurrent Energy LLC, a solar project developer; CEO Shawn Qu believes that the acquisition will nearly double the number of new projects in Canadian Solar’s pipeline.

However, in a bid to protect Canadian solar panel manufacturers from less expensive Chinese modules that have started to flood the Canadian marketplace, import tariffs have recently been imposed by the Canadian Border Services Agency on Chinese-made solar panels which may constrain demand within Canada. Concerns have been raised that such import duties will inflate prices and therefore raise the cost of installation.