As of December 2020, California (10.6 gigawatts (GW)), New Jersey (1.9 GW), and Massachusetts (1.8 GW) were the states with the lowest solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity. Of the 4.5 GW of small solar capacity added in the US in 2020, California accounted for 31%, by far the largest share. Although Texas and Florida have fewer small solar capacities overall than states like California or New Jersey, capacity in these states has grown rapidly in recent years. In 2020, Texas added 422 megawatts (MW) of solar power, and Florida added 282 MW. Government incentives, strong Solarressourcenand policy changes largely drive these gains.
New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts are among the leading states for small solar capacity, although they have less affordable solar resources. In these states, long-term government measures such as Renewable and Clean Energy Standards and other incentives, some of which contain specific provisions for solar energy, have encouraged the growth of small-scale solar capacity.
In 2020, Texas small solar capacity increased 63% from 670 MW in 2019 to 1,093 MW. In Texas, utilities don’t need to get excess power from solar panels for homes. Such as, Network measurementMany Texas homeowners have no way of returning excess electricity to the electrical grid. Although net metering is not widely used, some retail electricity companies in Texas offer a renewable buyback program in the form of invoice credits. In addition, Texas offers a property tax exemption for the added value of rooftop solar systems, which encourages the small-scale growth of solar energy in the state.
The lifting of restrictions on leased solar systems has fueled small-scale solar growth in Florida. Until April 2018 the The Florida Public Service Commission restricted electricity sales from leased solar systems. Without the limitation, power customers can lease solar systems with little or no upfront cost, making solar PV more financially viable and increasing the growth of residential solar PV systems across the state immensely. In 2020, Florida small-scale solar capacity increased 57% from 492 MW in 2019 to 773 MW.
While Illinois isn’t in the top states for total small solar capacity, it added 309 MW of small solar capacity in 2020, the third highest number of additions this year. These additions doubled the state’s small-scale solar capacity from 206 MW in 2019 to 515 MW in 2020.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) began publishing generation and capacity estimates for small solar systems by state and sector in the US Electricity monthly EIA’s small solar system category includes all systems that are connected to the power grid and are less than 1 MW in size. EIA also collects utility-scale solar systems (1 MW or more) Annual report on power generators. Solar PV systems that are smaller than 1 MW but are connected to a power plant with an output of 1 MW or more are also recorded in the Annual report on power generators.
Mainly responsible: Sara Hoff, David Darling
Article courtesy of Heute in Energy, US-UVP
Selected image source: US Energy Information Administration, Monthly report of the electricity industry
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