Solar power in the United States

<a href="/facts/Solar_power/NpgmEbU2">Solar power</a> includes <a href="/facts/Solar_farm/gPf4oQNW">solar farms</a> as well as local <a href="/facts/Distributed_generation/A5xYx8AG">distributed generation</a>, mostly <a href="/facts/Rooftop_solar_power/Ve9UYU6S">on rooftops</a> and increasingly from <a href="/facts/Community_solar/QEUWl3aF">community solar</a> arrays. In 2024, utility-scale solar power generated 218.5 <a href="/facts/Kilowatt-hour/qvVkEmPH">terawatt-hours</a> (TWh) in the United States. Total solar generation that year, including estimated small-scale <a href="/facts/Photovoltaic/5Xefaayl">photovoltaic</a> generation, was 303.2 TWh. As of the end of 2024, the United States had 239 <a href="/facts/Gigawatts/VK8oqRrm">gigawatts</a> (GW) of installed photovoltaic (utility and small scale) and <a href="/facts/Concentrated_solar_power/VdH6Cyn1">concentrated solar power</a> capacity combined. This capacity is <a href="/facts/Solar_power_in_China/yJe96Bah">exceeded only by China</a> and the <a href="/facts/Solar_power_in_the_European_Union/z2HcNgoj">European Union</a>. In 2024, 66% of all new electricity generation capacity in the country came from solar. 
The United States conducted much early research in photovoltaics and concentrated solar power. It is among the top countries in the world in electricity generated by the sun and several of the world's largest utility-scale installations are located in the desert Southwest. The oldest solar power plant in the world is the 354-megawatt (MW) <a href="/facts/Solar_Energy_Generating_Systems/mwGqhHdR">Solar Energy Generating Systems</a> thermal power plant in California. The <a href="/facts/Ivanpah_Solar_Electric_Generating_System/0nsu8NVr">Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System</a> is a solar thermal power project in the <a href="/facts/Mojave_Desert/qWmTVQLg">Mojave Desert</a>, 40 miles (64 km) southwest of <a href="/facts/Las_Vegas/DLwGjxJt">Las Vegas</a>, with a gross capacity of 392 MW. The 280 MW <a href="/facts/Solana_Generating_Station/D7yft4PM">Solana Generating Station</a> is a solar power plant near <a href="/facts/Gila_Bend%2c_Arizona/N7flKQFw">Gila Bend, Arizona</a>, about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of <a href="/facts/Phoenix%2c_Arizona/MFvp5Upw">Phoenix</a>, completed in 2013. When commissioned it was the largest <a href="/facts/Parabolic_trough/NHW0Vxk5">parabolic trough</a> plant in the world and the first U.S. solar plant with <a href="/facts/Thermal_energy_storage/t7qMtkeo">molten salt thermal energy storage</a>. By 2015, solar employment had overtaken oil and gas as well as coal employment in the United States. As of 2023, more than 280,000 Americans were employed in the solar industry.
Many states have set individual renewable energy goals with solar power being included in various proportions. Hawaii plans 100% renewable-sourced electricity by 2045. Governor <a href="/facts/Jerry_Brown/tPU2AoAP">Jerry Brown</a> signed legislation requiring California's utilities to obtain 100 percent of their electricity from <a href="/facts/Zero-carbon/TWuqd5Pz">zero-carbon</a> sources by the end of 2045 (including 60% <a href="/facts/Renewable_energy/6Bu6IrpF">renewable energy</a> sources by 2030).

Solar power in the United States open-in-new

Solar power in the United States