State ranking based on the amount of solar electric capacity installed in 2012
Top 10 Solar States
Rooftop SolarPotential (MW)
3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
76,000
60,000
49,000
27,000
26,000
25,000
25,000
23,000
22,000
20,000
California
Texas
Florida
Ohio
Illinois
Georgia
New York
North Carolina
Michigan
Pennsylvania
Price Decline2011 to 2012
4
Maryland
Massachusetts
Oregon
New Jersey
Illinois
Vermont
Arizona
Texas
Wisconsin
Delaware
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
33.18%
28.96%
26.00%
22.70%
22.37%
21.80%
20.13%
19.79%
18.93%
15.60%
Solar Per Capita(watts per person)
5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
167
146
137
110
91
76
52
48
34
30
Arizona
Nevada
Hawaii
New Jersey
New Mexico
California
Colorado
Delaware
Vermont
Massachusetts
Cumulative Solar Capacity Installed (MW)
6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2902
1097
971
403
270
229
198
196
191
190
California
Arizona
New Jersey
Nevada
Colorado
North Carolina
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Hawaii
New Mexico
58,000homes
37,000homes
11,000homes
49,000homes
13,000homes
22,000homes
32,000homes
California1
626,000homes
If California were its own country, it would rank 7th globally in installed PV capacity.
Best inShow
Arizona2
710.3MW
Arizona installed more utility-scale solar in 2012 than any other state.
SunniestState
New Jersey3
There are more solar company locations in New Jersey than tanning salons.
Solar Garden State
Nevada4
Wild Card
414.9MW
There is enough solar energy in Nevada to power every household in the state’s capitol, Carson City.
198MW
North Carolina5
Solar TakesFlight
Massachusetts6
BrightestFuture
131.9MW
The Tar Heel State is no fluke- North Carolina is expected to rank 4th in 2013 in solar installed.
128.9MW
In 2012, the state’s solar industry made more money installing panels than the New England Patriots made selling tickets.
Hawaii7
SolarKahuna
Maryland8
108.7MW
Hawaiians get a greater percentage of their electricity from solar than any other state.
74.3MW
Maryland’s solar industry is even bigger than its famous crab industry.
A Mover and Shaker, Hon
Colorado9 Texas10
69.9MW
Denver may be the “mile-high” city, but if you stack up all the solar panels installed in Colorado in 2012, they’d reach 3 miles into the sky.
64.1MW
If you include all of its usable land, the solar potential of Texas is more than twice that of any other state.
Most Untapped Potential3-Mile-High
Solar State
1032.7MW
Get solar data from the SEIA/GTM Solar Market Insight Report. Learn more at: SEIA.org/smi
(1) SEIA/GTM Solar Market Insight 2012 Year in Review; (2) SEIA, “What’s In a Megawatt?” http://www.seia.org/policy/solar-technology/photovoltaic-solar-electric/whats-megawatt; (3) Rooftop solar capacity that could be supported if every usable rooftop in a state were covered by solar photovoltaic panels, NREL http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/51946.pdf; (4) Change in residential and commercial installed solar prices from Q4 2011- Q4 2012, weighted by capacity installed; SEIA/GTM Solar Market Insight 2012 Year in Review http://www.seia.org/smi; (5) Watts of cumulative solar electric capacity per state resident. SMI/GTM Solar Market Insight 2012 Year in Review http://www.seia.org/smi and U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/data/state/totals/2012/index.html; (6) SEIA/GTM Solar Market Insight 2012 Year in Review
139,000homes
=10,000 homes
Installed in 2012 (MW) 1
Homes powered by solar 2
(an estimate of the number of homes powered per megawatt of installed solar capacity, including both photovoltaic and concentrating solar power)
139,000homes
© Copyright SEIA 2013