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U.S. Solar Market Insight

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Updated March 6, 2024

The US solar industry installed 32.4 gigawatts-direct current (GWdc) of capacity in 2023, a remarkable 51% increase over 2022. This was the industry’s biggest year by far, exceeding 30 GWdc of capacity for the first time. Every single segment set annual installation records except for community solar, which was within 5 MWdc of an annual record. 

Growth in 2023 was due to slightly different factors for each segment. Residential solar grew 12%, adding 6.8 GWdc of capacity as installations surged in California as customers rushed to take advantage of more favorable net metering rules before the switch to net billing in April. This helped to offset declines in other states mostly due to interest rate increases.

Commercial solar saw a similar increase in California, leading to national growth of 19% over 2022. Community solar grew just 3% compared to 2022. While this segment continues to struggle with interconnection delays and permitting challenges, strong pipelines in states like Illinois, New Jersey, and New York helped contribute to year-over-year growth.

Finally, utility-scale installations spiked to 22.5 GWdc of capacity, a 77% increase over 2022. Module import volumes increased over the course of the year as importers worked with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to demonstrate compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). The temporary moratorium on new anticircumvention tariffs applicable to certain imports from four Southeast Asian countries also brought some stability to the solar supply chain. That moratorium ends in June 2024.

Overall, photovoltaic (PV) solar accounted for 53% of all new electricity-generating capacity additions in 2023, making up more than half of new generating capacity for the first time.
 

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