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Solar energy generation by state

Check out how your state is performing on this green technology

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May Solar Energy Generation by State Report

California once again takes first place among states generating electricity from solar power this month. The Golden State produced almost 30% of the U.S. total of 12,848 thousand megawatt-hours, according to ChooseEnergy.com®’s May 2022 Solar Report. The report is an analysis of the most recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Following is a breakdown of the rest of the states (all shown in thousand megawatt-hours) from the EIA’s most recent data from February 2022:

Top 10 states generating electricity from solar

State February solar % of U.S. total
California 3,812 29.7
Texas 1,595 12.4
Florida 956 7.4
North Carolina 757 5.9
Arizona 743 5.8
Nevada 672 5.2
Virginia 319 2.5
New York 314 2.4
New Jersey 305 2.4
Massachusetts 302 2.4

U.S. solar generation of electricity increased by 13.6% in February compared with solar generation in January. Arkansas and Mississippi were the only states that experienced a decrease in solar production during this time.

Following are February and January solar generation levels in states with significant production and the percentage change from month to month. States are listed in order of the amount of electricity generated by solar (including thermal), in thousand megawatt-hours.

Solar Energy by State

State February solar January solar % change
California 3,812 3,375 12.9
Texas 1,595 1,442 10.6
Florida 956 893 7.1
North Carolina 757 671 12.8
Arizona 743 676 9.9
Nevada 672 577 16.5
Virginia 319 242 31.8
New York 314 263 19.4
New Jersey 305 256 19.1
Massachusetts 302 267 13.1
Utah 302 259 16.6
Colorado 250 217 15.2
South Carolina 194 173 12.1
New Mexico 161 147 9.5
Illinois 150 124 21.0
Minnesota 146 122 19.7
Hawaii 133 130 2.3
Maryland 123 99 24.2
Oregon 122 96 27.1
Connecticut 88 77 14.3
Indiana 88 71 23.9
Pennsylvania 70 60 16.7
Ohio 69 56 23.2
Rhode Island 62 43 44.2
Michigan 60 48 25.0
Wisconsin 59 47 25.5
Arkansas 54 57 -5.3
Idaho 44 29 51.7
Missouri 40 36 11.1
Maine 38 26 46.2
Iowa 34 25 36.0
Mississippi 31 32 -3.1
Louisiana 31 29 6.9
Tennessee 28 27 3.7
Vermont 24 19 26.3
Washington 24 NA NA
Delaware 14 11 27.3
Wyoming 12 11 9.1
Oklahoma 11 10 10.0
Kansas 9 8 12.5
Kentucky 9 7 28.6
Nebraska 6 5 20.0
Montana 4 3 33.3
West Virginia 2 2 0.0
U.S. 12,848 11,305 13.6

What percentage of each state’s electricity generation comes from solar?

Nationally, solar accounted for about 3.9% of the electricity produced in February. Following are the states that produced the largest percentage of their power from solar:

Top 10 states for percentage of total electricity from solar

State % from solar
California 28.1
Nevada 24.1
Hawaii 19.6
Massachusetts 19.1
Vermont 12.2
Rhode Island 11.0
Utah 10.6
Arizona 10.3
North Carolina 7.2
New Jersey 6.4

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Photo credit: Shutterstock

(Last updated May 12, 2022)