Raleigh ranks among the nation’s top cities for solar installations, according to a new report from BuildZoom. The report pegs Raleigh at number 23 among U.S. cities, with .27 solar systems per 1,000 people. Charlotte comes in at 36 in the ranking.
The report says “Solar is growing meteorically. Over the last decade (2005 to 2014), the estimated rate at which new solar power systems were added grew more than twenty-fold![1] In 2005, only about 10,000 new solar systems were introduced nationwide; by comparison, in 2014, some 230,000 were added.
Three of the top five cities are in sunny California, and sun-drenched Hawaii has the most installations by a long shot with 64.22 per 1,000 people.
The highest ranked metro area is San Diego, which has almost 6.5 times more solar systems per capita than the nation as a whole. However, all of the first 14 metro areas on the list have more solar systems per capita than the US as a whole, including sunny places like Phoenix and Las Vegas, as well as some less obvious places like Baltimore and Boston.
Others in the top ten are: San Jose, Phoenix, Riverside, Denver. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orlando, Austin, and Baltimore, in the top ten.
Raleigh follows just behind Nashville and just ahead of Philadelphia. The report says that somewhat surprisingly, solar is growing fastest in the Northeast, but the number of solar systems is growing in the rest of the country as well. The number of new systems introduced in the Northeast increased by a staggering 227% between 2013 and 2014.
The report suggests the two most important factors in regional growth are sunlight and local incentives.
For the full list see: https://www.buildzoom.com/blog/solar
