Note: Solar Adoption here represents the proportion of units using solar out of total units, based on the available information from census.
Data Source: American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau
Analysis by CEC Economics
Highlight
- As of 2022, California held the distinction of having the second-highest solar market share (0.93%) among the 50 states, falling behind only Hawaii (4.18%). California’s growth in solar adoption is very similar to nearby Arizona, which has about 20% of California's total population. On a year-over-year basis, fellow sunny states such as Florida and Nevada have had a significant surge in demand for solar energy, although solar adoption rates (0.28% and 0.59%, respectively) are overall still much lower than California. These trends illustrate the continued expansion of the solar energy market across various regions of the country, with both populous and less-populous states demonstrating a growing interest in this sustainable and environmentally friendly energy source.
Challenge
- In 2022, California's solar as heating fuel adoption rate grew at a steady pace of 14% compared to 2021, which had a similar year-over-year growth rate of 15%. However, this is slightly slower than the U.S. average of 18%. This marks the second consecutive year that California's growth rate has been slower than that of the U.S. Meanwhile, the adoption rate increased by over 40% in other sunny states such as Florida (43%) and Nevada (42%). In California, on average, the avoided energy costs rates come out to about 25% of retail electricity rates during those same hours, meaning the value of net metering credits has decreased by about 75% under NEM 3.0.121 This is likely to discourage adoption of rooftop solar due to the reduced financial incentive.
121 EnergySage. NEM 3.0 in California: What you need to know. August 25, 2023. Accessed July 13, 2024. Available at: https://www.energysage.com/blog/net-metering-3-0/
More About
Energy Efficiency
Related Content