Solar power in California

Photovoltaic (foreground) and Solar water heating (rear) panels located on rooftops in Berkeley, California. Note the low tilt of the photovoltaic panels, optimized for summer, and the high tilt of the water heating panels, optimized for winter.
Satellite image of Topaz Solar Farm in San Luis Obispo County, California, taken on January 2, 2015, by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8

Solar power has been growing rapidly in the U.S. state of California because of high insolation, community support, declining solar costs, and a renewable portfolio standard which requires that 60% of California's electricity come from renewable resources by 2030, with 100% by 2045.[1] Much of this is expected to come from solar power via photovoltaic facilities or concentrated solar power facilities.

At the end of 2023, California had a total of 46,874 MW of solar capacity installed, enough to power 13.9 million homes in the state. California ranked as the highest solar power generating state in the nation, with solar power providing for 28% of the state's electricity generation.[2] The Solar Energy Industries Association predicts that California will increase its solar capacity by over 20,000 MW over the next five years, the second highest increase in solar capacity in the country behind Texas at 41,000 MW.[2]

The state government has created various programs to incentivize and subsidize solar installations, including an exemption from property tax, cash incentives, net metering, streamlined permitting for residential solar, and, in 2020, requiring all new homes have solar panels.

  1. ^ "California: Renewables Portfolio Standard". Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency. October 7, 2015. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).