Recently, the solar industry has managed to persevere and thrive, notwithstanding a political climate that is always casting an ominous cloud of uncertainty.

That trend is continuing, with growth at an astonishing pace. According to recent data, the industry is setting new records, and is expected to break those again soon.

In December, GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) published the Q4 2016 U.S. Solar Market Insight report, which measures U.S. installations for the third quarter of last year.

The report announces that the industry installed 4,143 megawatts (MW) during the period, and to emphasize the volume and pace, equates that to installing solar at a rate of one MW every 32 minutes.

Tom Kimbis, SEIA’s interim president, is understandably elated, offering that with that kind of growth, “it is safe to say the state of the solar industry here in America is strong.”

The numbers seems to back him up. According to the report, the 4,000-plus MW installed in the third quarter last year was more than double the amount installed in almost any other quarter measured in the last five years.

The report attributes much of the growth to a “pipeline” of utility projects that were launched previously in anticipation that Congress would let the federal investment tax credit expire at the end of 2016. The report describes the projects completed in the third quarter last year as “the first phase of a massive wave of projects” that were cued up before the expected expiration.

Congress extended the tax credit in 2015. Developers now have until 2023 to commence construction.

Nevertheless, the pipeline is still flowing, and SEIA expects more records to fall, projecting fourth quarter installations to surpass the third quarter.