Solar energy is officially the fastest-growing energy source – in the world. The planet’s rapidly growing fleet of solar panels generated 30% more electricity in 2015 than it did in 2014, making clean power captured directly from the sun the world’s fastest growing source of energy.
However – just how quickly is it growing across the globe? And secondly – how does the US chalk up to other countries?
Well, when it comes to solar energy, the US is still lagging against the rest of the world – (we’re 22nd on a per capita basis) – however, the US is just getting started on the path to a solar energy future and installations are growing steadily each year.
To visualize how individual states compare to the rest of the world, we matched each state to a country with a similar amount of solar installed per capita. We measured this via watts peak per capita (Wp/capita).
There are a few insights we noted straight away, for instance:
- States with strong solar radiation (AZ, NV, NM), expensive power (CA, MA, NJ), and regulatory regimes supporting solar (VT,MD,NH) tend to have higher Wp/capita
- Developed countries with strong regulatory framework (Europe), strong policy incentives / expensive power (Islands) are more likely to have higher Wp/capita
- Rural states/developing countries with access to oil and gas resources (Southeast US, Midwest, Africa, etc) tend to have lower Wp/capita. They also tend to be the ones with the weakest renewable energy policies.
- Developed countries with strong fossil fuel resources (Middle East) have higher Wp/capita due to economic/policy incentives to maximize exports
- Developed countries with low solar irradiance tend to have lower Wp/capita
We found that Massachusetts has the most solar installed per capita of any US state with 285 watts per capita, similar to Belgium. Although Belgium and Massachusetts both have lower than average sunlight, they have relatively expensive electricity and regulatory measures in place to encourage solar adoption.
Another interesting fact – Germany, the global solar leader per capita, has over 50% more solar installed per capita than Massachusetts and nearly 10x more solar installed capacity per capita than the U.S. as a whole.
How does your state check out? Share with your friends and to learn more about going solar visit Powerscout.com!
The map measures states based on solar watts installed per capita. Here’s a quick explanation on how that’s calculated:
The size of a power plant size is based on its peak energy output at a given instant in time, a measurement known as Power and reported in units of Watts. The size of a Solar PV system is calculated as the Watts of power the panels can produce in laboratory conditions, which assume sunlight hitting the panels at an intensity of 1,000 W/ m sq, a temperature of 25 degrees C, and a wavelength similar to sunlight through an airmass of 1.5.
Sources:
Summary table of the solar installations and populations for U.S. States:
| State | Cumulative MW | Population | Wp/Capita | Country Match |
| MA | 1,941.27 | 6,811,779 | 284.99 | Belgium |
| NJ | 2,283.67 | 8,944,469 | 255.32 | Japan |
| AZ | 1,647.16 | 6,931,071 | 237.65 | Greece |
| CA | 7,378.77 | 39,250,017 | 187.99 | Czech Republic |
| NV | 359.85 | 2,940,058 | 122.40 | Slovenia |
| DE | 93.97 | 945,934 | 99.34 | France |
| NM | 187.71 | 2,081,015 | 90.20 | Netherlands |
| CT | 248.61 | 3,576,452 | 69.51 | Canada |
| VT | 39.39 | 624,594 | 63.06 | Cyprus |
| MD | 181.86 | 6,016,447 | 30.23 | Taiwan |
| NY | 574.99 | 19,745,289 | 29.12 | China |
| NH | 33.77 | 1,334,795 | 25.30 | Egypt |
| CO | 135.13 | 5,540,545 | 24.39 | Lithuania |
| IN | 131.39 | 6,633,053 | 19.81 | Morocco |
| HI | 26.80 | 1,428,557 | 18.76 | Cabo Verde |
| PA | 239.76 | 12,784,227 | 18.75 | Thailand |
| RI | 18.81 | 1,056,426 | 17.81 | South Africa |
| MO | 92.83 | 6,093,000 | 15.24 | Algeria |
| OR | 56.98 | 4,093,465 | 13.92 | Hungary |
| OH | 137.72 | 11,614,373 | 11.86 | Sweeden |
| TX | 322.42 | 27,862,596 | 11.57 | Croatia |
| FL | 135.43 | 20,612,439 | 6.57 | New Zealand |
| NC | 56.26 | 10,146,788 | 5.54 | Malaysia |
| ME | 7.00 | 1,331,479 | 5.26 | Algeria |
| UT | 12.45 | 3,051,217 | 4.08 | Pakistan |
| WI | 22.84 | 5,778,708 | 3.95 | India |
| TN | 22.36 | 6,651,194 | 3.36 | Finland |
| MN | 18.44 | 5,519,952 | 3.34 | Turkey |
| IL | 27.91 | 12,801,539 | 2.18 | Saudi Arabia |
| AR | 4.85 | 2,988,248 | 1.62 | Estonia |
| IA | 4.15 | 3,134,693 | 1.32 | Norway |
| MI | 7.63 | 9,928,301 | 0.77 | Poland |
| KY | 3.30 | 4,436,974 | 0.74 | Mexico |
| WV | 1.14 | 1,831,102 | 0.62 | Philippines |
| ID | 1.04 | 1,683,140 | 0.62 | Latvia |
| GA | 6.09 | 10,310,371 | 0.59 | Ireland |
| KS | 1.64 | 2,907,289 | 0.56 | Senegal |
| LA | 2.15 | 4,681,666 | 0.46 | Burkina Faso |
| WY | 0.21 | 585,501 | 0.36 | Mali |
| SD | 0.28 | 865,454 | 0.32 | Zimbabwe |
| MT | 0.30 | 1,042,520 | 0.29 | Niger |
| WA | 2.05 | 7,288,000 | 0.28 | Djibouti |
| MS | 0.76 | 2,988,726 | 0.25 | Botswana |
| VA | 1.39 | 8,411,808 | 0.17 | Tanzania |
| AK | 0.12 | 738,432 | 0.16 | Central African Republic |
| NE | 0.28 | 1,907,116 | 0.15 | Ghana |
| SC | 0.64 | 4,961,119 | 0.13 | Zambia |
| ND | 0.09 | 757,952 | 0.12 | Malawi |
| OK | 0.31 | 3,923,561 | 0.08 | Zambia |
| AL | 0.14 | 4,863,300 | 0.03 | Cameroon |
Summary table for the installations and populations for leading solar countries:
| Country | Cumulative MW | Population | Wp/Capita |
| Germany | 39,700.00 | 80,688,545 | 492.02 |
| Italy | 18,920.00 | 59,797,685 | 316.40 |
| Belgium | 3,250.00 | 11,299,192 | 287.63 |
| Japan | 34,410.00 | 126,573,481 | 271.86 |
| Greece | 2,610.00 | 10,954,617 | 238.26 |
| Kuwait | 90.00 | 389,215 | 231.23 |
| Luxembourg | 125.00 | 567,110 | 220.42 |
| Australia | 5,070.00 | 23,968,973 | 211.52 |
| Czech Republic | 2,080.00 | 10,543,186 | 197.28 |
| Malta | 73.00 | 418,670 | 174.36 |
| Switzerland | 1,360.00 | 8,298,663 | 163.88 |
| Bulgaria | 1,020.00 | 7,149,787 | 142.66 |
| Denmark | 789.00 | 5,669,081 | 139.18 |
| United Kingdom | 8,780.00 | 64,715,810 | 135.67 |
| Slovenia | 257.00 | 2,067,526 | 124.30 |
| Spain | 5,440.00 | 46,121,699 | 117.95 |
| Austria | 937.00 | 8,544,586 | 109.66 |
| Israel | 881.00 | 8,064,036 | 109.25 |
| Slovakia | 591.00 | 5,426,258 | 108.91 |
| France | 6,580.00 | 64,395,345 | 102.18 |
| Netherlands | 1,570.00 | 16,924,929 | 92.76 |
| United States | 25,620.00 | 321,773,631 | 79.62 |
| Canada | 2,500.00 | 35,939,927 | 69.56 |
| South Korea | 3,430.00 | 50,293,439 | 68.20 |
| Romania | 1,330.00 | 19,511,324 | 68.17 |
| Cyprus | 69.00 | 1,165,300 | 59.21 |
| Jordan | 437.50 | 7,594,547 | 57.61 |
| Honduras | 389.00 | 8,075,060 | 48.17 |
| Chile | 848.00 | 17,948,141 | 47.25 |
| UAE | 410.00 | 9,156,963 | 44.77 |
| Portugal | 454.00 | 10,349,803 | 43.87 |
| Taiwan | 1,010.00 | 23,381,038 | 43.20 |
| China | 43,530.00 | 1,376,048,943 | 31.63 |
| Egypt | 2,337.50 | 91,508,084 | 25.54 |
| Lithuania | 73.00 | 2,878,405 | 25.36 |
| Thailand | 1,420.00 | 67,959,359 | 20.89 |
| South Africa | 1,120.00 | 54,490,406 | 20.55 |
| Morroco | 637.50 | 34,377,511 | 18.54 |
| Cabo Verde | 9.51 | 531,239 | 17.90 |
| Hungary | 137.00 | 9,855,023 | 13.90 |
| Sweden | 130.00 | 9,779,426 | 13.29 |
| Algeria | 437.50 | 39,666,519 | 11.03 |
| Croatia | 44.00 | 4,240,317 | 10.38 |
| New Zealand | 37.00 | 4,528,526 | 8.17 |
| Malaysia | 231.00 | 30,331,007 | 7.62 |
| Algeria | 300.00 | 39,666,519 | 7.56 |
| Pakistan | 1,000.00 | 188,924,874 | 5.29 |
| India | 5,050.00 | 1,311,050,527 | 3.85 |
| Finland | 20.00 | 5,503,457 | 3.63 |
| Turkey | 266.00 | 78,665,830 | 3.38 |
| Saudi Arabia | 106.25 | 31,540,372 | 3.37 |
| Estonia | 4.00 | 1,312,558 | 3.05 |
| Norway | 15.00 | 5,210,967 | 2.88 |
| Poland | 86.00 | 38,611,794 | 2.23 |
| Mexico | 282.00 | 127,017,224 | 2.22 |
| Philippines | 155.00 | 100,699,395 | 1.54 |
| Latvia | 1.00 | 1,970,503 | 0.51 |
| Senegal | 7.40 | 14,799,859 | 0.50 |
| Ireland | 2.00 | 4,688,465 | 0.43 |
| Burkina Faso | 7.61 | 19,034,397 | 0.40 |
| Mali | 7.34 | 18,341,000 | 0.40 |
| Zimbabwe | 4.27 | 14,240,168 | 0.30 |
| Niger | 6.21 | 20,715,000 | 0.30 |
| Djibouti | 0.27 | 900,000 | 0.30 |
| Botswana | 0.45 | 2,230,905 | 0.20 |
| Tanzania | 11.03 | 55,155,000 | 0.20 |
| Ghana | 2.83 | 28,308,301 | 0.10 |
| Zambia | 1.59 | 15,933,883 | 0.10 |
| Malawi | 1.68 | 16,832,910 | 0.10 |
| Zambia | 1.59 | 15,933,883 | 0.10 |
| Cameroon | 2.27 | 22,709,892 | 0.10 |
| Central African Republic | 0.50 | 4,998,000 | 0.10 |