The State(s) of Distributed Solar — 2023 Update

Solar developers installed over 29 gigawatts of solar generation capacity in 2023. 31 percent of that capacity was distributed throughout communities, rather than centralized on utility-owned solar farms. Distributed solar, which can be owned by individuals, small businesses, and public entities, is turning the electricity industry upside down as individuals choose to generate their own solar power. Many individuals who cannot go solar themselves now have the opportunity to subscribe to a community solar garden. These solar arrays offer the same electric bill stability and savings as rooftop solar, but operate remotely under a subscription model.

The map below illustrates the saturation of each state’s distributed (non-utility-scale) solar market, relative to population, at the end of 2023. For the purposes of the map, community solar in Colorado, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Oregon is included as distributed solar. We added our own figures on state community solar capacity to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s figures on small-scale photovoltaic capacity by state. This sum was divided by state population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, resulting in a figure for distributed solar per capita (watts per person). The U.S. EIA did not collect data from Alabama or North Dakota.

21 states and the District of Columbia have a distributed solar saturation of more than 100 watts per capita.

20 watts per capita is equivalent to rooftop solar on 1 out of every 125 households; 40 watts per capita is equivalent to 2 out of every 125 households; 100 watts per capita is equivalent to 1 out of every 25 households; 200 watts per capita is equivalent to 2 out of every  25 households; 300 watts per capita is equivalent to 3 out of every 25 households; and 500 watts per capita is equivalent to 1 out of every 5 households (given the national average of 2.6 persons per household and 6.5 kilowatt rooftop solar systems).

To sort the data, click on any column heading.

Although California, Texas, Florida, and North Carolina have the largest overall solar markets (see below), Hawai’i, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and California have the greatest distributed solar saturation, as measured in installed distributed solar capacity per capita. California, Arizona, Nevada, and Massachusetts all land in the top ten for both distributed solar saturation and total solar generation capacity.

These state solar markets changed the most since our 2022 update: 

• Installed solar capacity in Texas, California, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, and Colorado all grew by more than a gigawatt in 2023 (6, 4.7, 2.5, 1.8, 1.2, and 1.1 gigawatts, respectively).
• South Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Arkansas doubled or more than doubled their installed solar capacity with growth from 2023.
• Wisconsin, Indiana, Montana, Louisiana, Maine, and Michigan also saw rapid solar generation capacity expansion in 2023 (94, 82, 73, 73, 71, and 71 percent growth, respectively).

28 states can now claim more than 1,000 megawatts of total solar capacity and 45 have more than 100 megawatts.

Community Solar is Gaining Momentum

Community solar, supported by policy in 19 states and the District of Columbia, brings many of the benefits of solar power to those who have traditionally been left out. Community solar gardens — which are larger than residential solar installations, but smaller than utility-owned solar fields — are the most cost-effective size for solar and reduce electric bills for members of the community.

The following graphic highlights the nine community solar-enabling states — Colorado, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Oregon — that we are able to track at this time. The figures for community solar saturation are calculated by dividing installed community solar capacity by state population.

Total installed community solar capacity at the end of 2023:

1. New York (1721 megawatts)
2. Minnesota (904 megawatts)
3. Massachusetts (852 megawatts)
4. Illinois (251 megawatts)
5. Maryland (149 megawatts)
6. Colorado (147 megawatts)
7. New Jersey (137 megawatts)
8. Oregon (29 megawatts)
9. Hawai’i (4 megawatts)

State policies like community solar are crucial in support of local decision-making and promoting the adoption of distributed solar. Additional essential policies include net metering, simplified interconnection rules, and a renewable portfolio standard carve-out for distributed energy. We track these policies and others in our Community Power Map.

ILSR’s State(s) of Distributed Solar analysis is updated annually. For a historical snapshot, explore our archived analyses of distributed solar by state in 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016.

This article originally posted at ilsr.org. For timely updates, follow John Farrell on Twitter or get the Energy Democracy weekly update.