There are over 5 million solar installations in the United States, delivering clean, affordable, reliable energy to American communities.

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.
  • For the first time, solar accounted for over half of new electricity generation capacity added 2023 and, by 2050, solar is expected to be the largest source of generating capacity on the U.S. grid.
  • Solar powers more than 263,000 jobs across the United States.1 

 

Residential Solar

  • 97% of all solar installations in the United States are on residential rooftops.
  • 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. By 2030, this number will grow to over 15% of U.S. homes.  
  • Through 2023, there 36 GW of residential solar installed in the United States. 

Solar Energy Capacity

  • There is enough solar installed in the United States to power 32.5 million households.2
  • By 2034, U.S. solar capacity is expected to grow to 673 GW, enough to power more than 100 million homes.2
  • More than half of all solar capacity in the United States was installed since 2020. 

Solar in the States

  • In 2012, only California had over 25,000 solar systems installed.  Today, 23 states and territories have over 25,000 systems and 11 U.S. states and territories have over 100,000 solar systems installed.
  • Today, over half of U.S. have over 1 GW of solar installed, compared to only 3 states a decade ago.
  • America now has enough solar installations to cover every residential rooftop in the 4 corners states: Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico.

Energy Storage

  • 13% of residential solar installed in 2023 included energy storage.
  • The attachment rate of energy storage to new distributed solar projects has tripled since 2018.
  • By 2028, 26% of residential solar installed will include storage, about double the current rate. 

Solar's Climate Impact

  • America’s solar fleet displaces 198 million metric tons of CO2 every year.3
  • The residential solar market alone displaces 37 million metric tons of CO2 per year.3
  • The annual climate impact of American solar is equivalent to planting 3.3 billion trees, about as many trees as there are in the entire state of Kentucky.3
  • America’s 5 million solar installations reduced the emissions equivalent to 22 billion gallons of gas. That’s enough gas to travel to the sun and back nearly 3,000 times in a traditional ICE vehicle.3
  • The 198 million metric tons of CO2 that displaced by the solar industry is equivalent to closing 53 coal-fired plants, about one quarter of the total coal plants operating in the U.S.3
  • The climate impact of American solar offsets the emissions of 12 million Americans, greater than the population of NYC and LA combined.3

Get engaged with the #5MillionSolar campaign.

Sources: 

  • U.S. Solar Market Insight 2023 Year in Review, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)/Wood Mackenzie
  • 1 National Solar Jobs Census 2022, Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)
  • 2 U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
  • 3 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator