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hubie [soylentnews.org] writes:

The 7.3 GW of cumulative energy production added in 2015 in the United States from installations of solar photovoltaics [nrel.gov] (PVs) surpassed nearly all other sources of electricity including natural gas [optics.org]. Most of the energy was added in California, but the number of states that added at least 100 MW is now up to 13.

Despite the geographical diversification, Greentech Media [greentechmedia.com] analyst Shayle Kann said that the US solar market remained concentrated in key states. “The top ten states accounted for 87 per cent of installed capacity in 2015,” he pointed out. “But growth has been widespread, and 24 of the 35 states that we track saw market growth in 2015.”

By sector, US photovoltaic production has historically been dominated by commercial installations, but 2015 saw the residential installations expand 66 percent and now accounts for about one-third of the market. This is in contrast to the European market where capacity from new installations has been dropping and is now at about one-third from its peak in 2011. One of the driving differences between the two markets is that the EU has removed many Green Energy subsidies [dailycaller.com], while the US Congress unexpectedly extended the solar investment tax credit [scientificamerican.com] set to expire in 2016.

However, all of this needs to be kept in perspective:

But while the cumulative PV capacity installed now tops 25 GW (at peak output), new figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) [eia.gov] state that total electricity generating capacity in the country currently stands at around 1.1 TW – meaning that PV accounts for just over 2 per cent of total capacity.

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