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California Solar Photovoltaic Statistics & Data

photo of LUZ Solar facility

Electricity produced by solar photovoltaic (PV) systems surpassed solar thermal electricity in installed capacity in 2008. The cumulative installed capacity reached about 440 megawatts (MW) at the end of 2008, eclipsing the 354 MW of solar thermal. Assuming each system installed kW produced 1,500 kWh, the California PV systems produced 661,500,000 kWh (661.5 GWh) of electricity. That's nearly as much as the 675 GWh of electricity by solar thermal in 2007.


Statewide Grid-Connected Photovoltaics

graph showing cumulative installed capacity 1981-2008

Grid-Connected Photovaltaic Systems in California 1981-2008
(Installed Capacity in Kilowatts)


CEC Emerging Renewables Program and CPUC Self-Generation Program CEC New Solar Homes Partnership and CPUC California Solar Initiative
Year Total kW Installed per Year Prior to State Incentives CEC - ERP IOUs CPUC - SGIP IOUs POUs Total kW Installed per Year 1998-2006 CPUC - CSI IOUs CEC - NSHP IOUs Total kW Installed per Year 2007-2008 Cumulative Total kW Intalled
1981 37 37
1982 38 75
1983 11 86
1984 1,145 1,231
1985 15 1,245
1986 971 2,217
1987 - 2,217
1988 4 2,221
1989 59 2,280
1990 15 2,295
1991 17 2,312
1992 489 2,801
1993 806 4,606
1994 458 4,064
1995 128 4,193
1996 854 5,046
1997 418 5,465
Emerging Renewables and Self-Generation Programs 1998-2006
1998 181 0 153 798 6,263
1999 619 0 346 965 7,228
2000 726 0 975 1,701 8,929
2001 4,034 0 2,217 6,251 15,180
2002 8,102 1,990 4,548 14,640 29,820
2003 12,273 11,618 4749 28,640 58,460
2004 18,846 15,076 3,603 37,525 95,984
2005 17,215 24,000 2,316 45,532 139,516
2006 29,045 27,806 1,916 58,767 198,257
New Solar Homes Partnership and California Solar Initiative 2007-2017
2007 26,079 33,000 2,978 19,000 0 81,206 279,463
2008 3,000 21,000 11,353 133,000 1,400 169,753 449,216

Sources: CEC Grid-Connected PVs through 12/31/07, CPUC CSI Program Update January 2009, POU report summary 1/2008-12/2008.

Acronyms: CEC= California Energy Commission, CPUC = California Public Utilities Commission, ERP = Emerging, Renewables Program, SGIP = Self-Generation Incentive Program, IOUs = Investor-Owned Utilities, POUs = Public Owned Utilities, NSHP = New Solar Homes Partnership, CSI = California Solar Initiative

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Data



Statistics On Renewable Energy & Electricity In California

National Renewable Energy Statistics

The main place for energy statistical data is the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA). Their website is: www.eia.doe.gov

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council tracks nationwide statistics of installed solar.

Download their "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2007" report as a PDF file from: http://irecusa.org/fileadmin/user_upload/NationalOutreachPubs/
IREC%20Solar%20Market%20Trends%20August%202008_2.pdf

Highlights include:
  • California installed 58% of all grid-tied PV capacity in the U.S. in 2007 -- and was the number one state in the country.
  • Ninety percent of grid-connected installations in 2007 were in just five states: California, New Jersey, Nevada, Colorado, and New York.
  • California has 69% of all of the grid-tied PV capacity in the U.S. cumulative to date through 2007. California had installed about 33,000 out of the nation's 48,000 solar systems by the end of 2007. The next largest state is New Jersey, with 9% of total installed capacity.
  • California is #1 in Cumulative Installed Capacity per person in the U.S. with 9.1 watts per person.