Solar Industry Update
Solar Generation as a Percentage of Total Net Generation
32%
30%
28%
26%
24%
22%
20%
18%
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
Solar Generation as a Percentage
of Total Generation, Q4 2022-Q3 2023
12.8%
18.5%
17.9%
25.1%
24.4%
27.5%
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Public.
11.0%
10.2%
9.8%
8.9%
8.9%
8.0%
7.5%
6.9%
6.5%
During the 1-year time span from Q4 2022 to Q3
2023, 20 states generated more than 5% of their
electricity from solar, with California leading the
way at 27.5%.
CSP
Residential
•
C&I
UPV
6.2%
6.1%
6.1%
6.1%
6.0%
5.4%
.3%
2%
0%
CA NV MA HI VT UT
RI AZ
PR NC
ME CO NJ NM
FL
ID
MD VA GA DE TX US
Note: EIA monthly data for 2023 are not final. Additionally, smaller utilities report information to EIA on a yearly basis, and therefore a
certain amount of solar data has not yet been reported. "Net Generation" includes distributed PV generation. Net generation does not
take into account imports and exports to and from each state, and therefore the percentage of solar consumed in each state may vary
from its percentage of net generation.
*EIA does not estimate distributed PV production in Puerto Rico; utility-scale values derived from EIA Form 923 and distributed PV values
represent estimates based on capacity installations from EIA Form 861 and system production from PVWatts.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), "Electricity Data Browser." Accessed October 2023.
•
Five states (California, Nevada, Massachusetts,
Hawaii, and Vermont) generated more than 15% of
their electricity using solar.
Three other states generated more than 10% of their
electricity using solar: Utah, Rhode Island, Arizona.
In calendar year 2022, solar generation was 4.1% in
Delaware, 4.3% Idaho, and 4.8% in Texas-all these
states broke the 5% barrier recently.
Nationally, 5.3% of electricity was generated from
solar-up from 4.8% during 2022.
The roles of utility and distributed solar vary by
state. Southern and Western states rely more on
utility-scale solar, while northern states and Hawaii
rely more on distributed solar.
NREL 17View entire presentation