WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 4, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Hawaii leads the nation in solar electricity per capita, with 312 watts of solar power capacity per resident, which is more than seven times the national average, according to a new report by the advocacy group Environment America.
The state’s solar success is due to high prices of grid electricity, abundant levels of sunshine and political policies, including becoming the first state in the nation to create a 100 percent renewable energy mandate, according to the report.
Hawaii’s jump from No. 2 in the rankings last year is due in part to the construction of the state’s largest solar farm, a 12-megawatt solar project on Kauai that will generate 5.5 percent of the island’s annual electricity use.
Hawaii has overtaken Arizona as the top state for solar capacity per capita.
The rest of the top five states include Nevada, California and New Jersey.
In terms of total solar capacity through 2014, Hawaii finished in seventh place with 443-megawatts of cumulative solar capacity.
California, Arizona, New Jersey, North Carolina and Nevada made up the top five states in this ranking.
Hawaii also finished in the top 10 when it came to solar electricity capacity installed in 2014, with a ninth place showing.
The report said that the top 10 states did not come to be America’s solar energy leaders by accident.
“Their leadership is the result of strong public policies that eliminate barriers that often keep consumer from going solar and provide financial assistance to expand access to solar energy to every individual, business, nonprofit and government agency that wished to pursue it,” the report said.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/2015/09/03/hawaii-leads-the-nation-in-solar-power-per-capita.html Hawaii leads the nation in solar power per capita 9/03/15 Duane Shimogawa
