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Solar energy generation by state

Check out how your state is performing on this green technology

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October Solar Energy Generation by State Report

This month, California remains in first place among states generating electricity from solar power. The Golden State generated nearly 33 percent of the U.S. total of 17,197 thousand megawatt-hours, according to ChooseEnergy.com®’s October 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 Top 10 states (all shown in thousand megawatt-hours) from the EIA’s most recent data from July:

Top 10 states generating electricity from solar

State July solar % of U.S. total
California 5,674 32.9
Texas 1,736 10.1
North Carolina 1,132 6.6
Florida 996 5.8
Arizona 937 5.4
Nevada 805 4.7
Massachusetts 475 2.8
New Jersey 474 2.8
New York 451 2.6
Utah 411 2.4

U.S. solar generation of electricity increased by 0.1 percent in July compared with June. Some states saw an increase in solar generation – Ohio, Illinois, Virginia, and Washington experienced the highest increase. The states that experienced the most dramatic decrease in solar generation were Arizona, Idaho, Utah, and Louisiana.

Following are July and June generation in states with significant generation 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 July solar June solar % change
California 5,674 5,772 -1.7
Texas 1,736 1,641 5.8
North Carolina 1,132 1,118 1.3
Florida 996 944 5.5
Arizona 937 1,068 -12.3
Nevada 805 813 -1.0
Massachusetts 475 477 -0.4
New Jersey 474 473 0.2
New York 451 446 1.1
Utah 411 456 -9.9
Virginia 402 350 14.9
Colorado 312 307 1.6
South Carolina 282 277 1.8
Minnesota 231 237 -2.5
New Mexico 219 223 -1.8
Oregon 210 211 -0.5
Maryland 196 192 2.1
Hawaii 175 178 -1.7
Ohio 129 87 48.3
Connecticut 123 127 -3.1
Pennsylvania 108 106 1.9
Indiana 97 98 -1.0
Rhode Island 81 80 1.3
Idaho 77 86 -10.5
Michigan 74 73 1.4
Wisconsin 67 65 3.1
Arkansas 67 62 8.1
Missouri 59 57 3.5
Iowa 56 55 1.8
Washington 48 43 11.6
Tennessee 46 48 -4.2
Mississippi 43 43 0.0
Louisiana 41 44 -6.8
Vermont 41 44 -6.8
Maine 37 37 0.0
Wyoming 23 22 4.5
Delaware 22 22 0.0
Kansas 14 14 0.0
Oklahoma 14 14 0.0
Kentucky 12 12 0.0
Montana 10 10 0.0
Nebraska 10 10 0.0
Alaska 2 2 0.0
West Virginia 2 2 0.0
U.S. 17,197 17,185 0.1

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

Nationally, solar accounted for about 4.25 percent of the electricity produced in July. Following are the states that produce the largest percentage of their power from solar:

Top 10 states for percentage of total electricity from solar

State % from solar
California 25.9
Massachusetts 23.5
Hawaii 21.5
Vermont 21.5
Nevada 17.2
Rhode Island 9.5
Utah 9.0
North Carolina 8.6
Arizona 8.0
New Jersey 7.5

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Photo credit: Shutterstock

(Last updated October 6, 2021)