Innovation
Top 10 Metro Areas Winning the Solar Race
The latest data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Open PV Database reveals the hottest metro areas for solar in the U.S.
Which metro areas in the U.S. are leading the race for solar installation dominance? The folks at SolarEnergy.net, a company owned by PURE Energies and subsidiary solar firm One Block Off the Grid, or 1BOG, sorted through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's publicly accessible data to find the answer.
The data, which is available on its Open PV Database, shows Fresno, Calif with the most watts per capita followed by Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz. and then Las Vegas, Nevada.
The top solar areas by installed solar capacity per capita:
- Fresno, Calif.—182.92 watts per capita
- Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.—84.76 watts per capita
- Las Vegas, Nev.—77.62 watts per capita
- Sacramento-Yolo, Calif.—76.27 watts per capita
- San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif.—62.99 watts per capita
- San Diego, Calif.—51.34 watts per capita
- Philadelphia, Penn., Wilmington, Del., Atlantic City, NJ—51.11 watts per capita
- New York City, Long Island, Northern New Jersey—35.96 watts per capita
- Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, Calif.—35.49 watts per capita
- San Antonio, Texas—35.4 watts per capita
Why such a big gap between No. 1 and No. 2? Solar Energy Industries Association spokesman Ken Johnson told SolarEnergy.net that the disparity between the two had to do with the size of projects, the amount of open space suitable for larger projects and Fresno area's small population.
Thumbnail photo: Flickr user Greenmps
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com