Solar power includes solar farms as well as local distributed generation, mostly on rooftops and increasingly from community solar arrays. In 2023, utility-scale solar power generated 164.5 terawatt-hours (TWh), or 3.9% of electricity in the United States. Total solar generation that year, including estimated small-scale photovoltaic generation, was 238 TWh.[2]
As of the end of 2023, the United States had 179 gigawatts (GW) of installed photovoltaic (utility and small scale) and concentrated solar power capacity combined.[3] This capacity is exceeded only by China and the European Union.[4] In 2021, 36% of all new electricity generation capacity in the country came from solar, surpassed only by wind with 41%.[5] By 2015, solar employment had overtaken oil and gas as well as coal employment in the United States.[6] As of 2023, more than 280,000 Americans were employed in the solar industry.[3]
The United States conducted much early research in photovoltaics and concentrated solar power. It is among the top countries in the world in electricity generated by the sun and several of the world's largest utility-scale installations are located in the desert Southwest. The oldest solar power plant in the world is the 354-megawatt (MW) Solar Energy Generating Systems thermal power plant in California.[7] The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is a solar thermal power project in the Mojave Desert, 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Las Vegas, with a gross capacity of 392 MW.[8] The 280 MW Solana Generating Station is a solar power plant near Gila Bend, Arizona, about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Phoenix, completed in 2013. When commissioned it was the largest parabolic trough plant in the world and the first U.S. solar plant with molten salt thermal energy storage.[9]
There are plans to build many other large solar plants in the United States. Many states have set individual renewable energy goals with solar power being included in various proportions. Hawaii plans 100% renewable-sourced electricity by 2045.[10] Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation requiring California's utilities to obtain 100 percent of their electricity from zero-carbon sources by the end of 2045 (including 60% renewable energy sources by 2030).[11][12]