Annual solar electricity generation by state, split into utility-scale and small-scale. Utility-scale is generation the EIA collects directly from facilities of 1 MW or greater. Small-scale is the EIA’s estimate of distributed photovoltaic generation — mostly rooftop panels on homes and businesses — which is not metered centrally and so must be estimated. Total is the sum of the two.
Both series come from the EIA’s electricity net-generation data (bulk download), reported in thousand megawatt-hours, i.e. gigawatt-hours (GWh). Utility-scale corresponds to the EIA’s "all utility-scale solar" (thermal + photovoltaic); small-scale corresponds to the EIA’s estimated distributed solar photovoltaic.
The EIA began estimating small-scale solar in 2014, so this chart starts in 2014. In many states — especially those with little utility-scale development — small-scale accounts for the majority of solar generation, so charts elsewhere on this site that show utility-scale solar only will understate total solar.
