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Solar power includes solar farms as well as local distributed generation, mostly on rooftops and increasingly from community solar arrays. In 2023, utility-scale solar power generated 164.5 terawatt-hours (TWh), or 3.9% of electricity in the United States. Total solar generation that year, including estimated small-scale photovoltaic generation, was 238 TWh.
According to our Electric Power Annual, solar power accounted for 3% of U.S. electricity generation from all sources in 2020. In our Short-Term Energy Outlook, we forecast that solar will account for 4% of U.S.
Solar energy''s share of total U.S. utility-scale electricity generation in 2023 was about 3.9%, up from less than 0.1% in 1990. In addition, EIA estimates that at the end of 2023, the United
PV alone represented 44% of new U.S. electric generation capacity. Solar still only represented 8.0% of net summer capacity and 3.9% of annual generation in 2021. However, 11 states generated more than 6% of their electricity from solar, with California leading the way at 25.0%.
In 2023, utility-scale solar power generated 164.5 terawatt-hours (TWh), or 3.9% of electricity in the United States. Total solar generation that year, including estimated small-scale photovoltaic generation, was 238 TWh.
50 States of Solar: Net Metering Quarterly Update (Q4 2021, Q1 2022), pv magazine: Florida House Bill 741. Renewables are becoming an increasingly large part of the U.S. electric generation mix, representing 27% of capacity and 21% of generation in 2021. Adding nuclear, non-carbon sources represented 35% of capacity and 40% of generation.
In 2023, net solar power generation in the United States reached its highest point yet at 164.5 terawatt hours of solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) power. Solar power generation has increased drastically over the past two decades, especially since 2011, when it hovered just below two terawatt hours.
Solar energy's share of total U.S. utility-scale electricity generation in 2023 was about 3.9%, up from less than 0.1% in 1990. In addition, EIA estimates that at the end of 2023, the United States had 47,704 MW of small-scale solar PV generation capacity, and that about 74 billion kWh were generated by small-scale PV systems.
Solar still represented only 8.0% of net summer capacity and 3.9% of annual generation in 2021. However, 11 states generated more than 6% of their electricity from solar, with California leading the way at 25.0%.
