Which states are leading on solar?

When it comes to bringing the benefits of solar energy to states, California has long been the national leader. But as utility-scale clean energy resources continue to surge, Texas is now nipping at California’s heel.

At the end of 2022, California had a roughly 1-gigawatt lead on Texas in terms of installed utility-scale solar capacity. In December 2022, California had 15,967-MW of utility-scale solar capacity compared to Texas’s 14,806-MW.

And Texas’s solar capacity is poised to grow. According to Canary Media, Texas is planning to add 7.7-GW of additional solar capacity in 2023, dwarfing California’s 4.2-GW solar pipeline. Texas’ doubled its installed solar capacity twice from 2019 to 2021 and the industry’s growth shows no sign of slowing.

“The saying “Everything’s bigger in Texas” is increasingly applying to solar power,” said Johanna Neumann, senior director of Environment America Research & Policy Center’s Campaign for 100% renewable energy. “However, Texas still has to install quite a bit of local rooftop solar to catch California when it comes to overall energy production from the sun’s rays.”

According to Environment America Research & Policy Center’s interactive Renewables on the Rise dashboard, in 2021, California generated more than 54,000 GWh of solar energy compared to just over 16,000GWh for Texas. Visit the dashboard below to learn more about how solar and other renewable energy technologies are growing and to compare states.