US Solar Electric System

Read SEIA's Press Release on this historic milestone. It took America 50 years to reach 5 million solar installations and it will only take us 6 years to reach 10 million. The number of solar installations in the U.S. will double by 2030 and triple by 2034. 97% of all solar installations in the United States are on residential rooftops.

Small-scale systems have less than 1 MW (1,000 kilowatts) of electric generation capacity. In 2023, total U.S. utility-scale electricity generation was about 4.18 trillion kilowatthours (kWh). EIA estimates that about 0.07 trillion kWh of electricity were generated with small-scale solar photovoltaic systems. 1

EIA estimates that about 0.07 trillion kWh of electricity were generated with small-scale solar photovoltaic systems. Biomass was the source of about 1% of total U.S. utility-scale electricity generation and accounted for 5% of the utility-scale electricity generation from renewable sources in 2023.

The U.S. produced more solar power in 2023 than ever before – part of a decade-long growth trend for renewable energy. Climate Central's new report, A Decade of Growth in Solar and Wind Power, analyzed U.S. solar and wind energy data from 2014 to 2023 for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

By 2030, there will be 10 million residential solar systems in the U.S., more than double the number of installations there are today. Residential solar has set an annual record for installations every year for the last 5 years and in 10 of the last 12 years. Today, 7% of homes in the U.S. have solar.

We expect U.S. utilities and independent power producers will add 26 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity to the U.S. electric power sector in 2025 and 22 GW in 2026. Last year, the electric power sector added a record 37 GW of solar power capacity to the electric power sector, almost double 2023 solar capacity additions.