While residential solar power currently generates just a fraction of the country’s overall electricity, it has continued to grow rapidly in recent years, despite COVID-19-related supply chain issues, import restrictions and other obstacles.
Residential solar power installations rose by 34% from 2.9 gigawatts in 2020 to 3.9 gigawatts in 2021, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), a government agency that collects and analyzes information about the energy industry. And in the second quarter of 2022, residential solar set its fifth consecutive quarterly growth record, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Even with the new federal tax credit – and other available incentives, including state tax incentives – home solar panels are expensive. The average installation cost of a residential solar panel system so far this year can range from $16,870 to $23,170 after applying the federal solar tax credit, according to EnergySage, though other factors, such as the type of solar panel, can affect the price. Supply chain constraints have also increased the cost of solar panels since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Residential solar power still generates less electricity than large utility-scale solar, such as solar panel farms. And all solar power together generates only a small amount of the electricity used in the United States. In 2021, solar generated just 3% of all utility-scale electricity, a far smaller share than natural gas (38%) or coal (22%).
A January Pew Research Center survey found that 8% of U.S.
homeowners said they have already installed solar panels and an additional 39% have given serious thought to it in the past year. The survey was conducted before the 30% federal tax credit became law in August.
The share of homeowners who say they have installed solar panels is up from 6% in a 2019 survey and 4% in 2016. But the share who said in January that they have given serious thought to installing solar panels is down 7 percentage points from 2019.
