Energy, Utilities & Water  September 3, 2015

Report: Colorado ranks 10th in solar capacity per capita

DENVER — A new report released Wednesday by Environment Colorado’s Research and Policy Center notes that Colorado slid one spot in 2014 to 10th nationally among states with the highest solar electricity capacity per capita.

Environment Colorado is a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization based in Denver.

Colorado — according the report written by Gideon Weissman of Frontier Group and Rob Sargent of Environment America Research and Policy Center — had a per capita solar generation capacity of 74 watts per person.

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Hawaii leaped above Arizona for the top spot on the list with 312 watts per person. Arizona was second at 307 and Nevada third at 278. California, New Jersey, New Mexico, Vermont, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Colorado rounded out the top 10.

Vermont (112 watts per person) and North Carolina (96) both passed Colorado in 2014, while Delaware (64) slipped out of the top 10.

The top 10 states, which account for 26 percent of the nation’s population, account for 86 percent of the installed solar electricity capacity. The report’s authors assert that the main common thread among those states is that all have renewable-energy requirements and that nine of the 10 have strong net-metering programs that allow residents to sell their excess solar power back onto the electricity grid.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission last week upheld the current structure of the state’s net metering policy, a decision hailed as a victory by Colorado’s solar industry.

“Our analysis shows that policy choices are a key driver of solar energy growth,” Weissman said in a press release. “State and local government policy leadership is closely aligned with success in growing solar energy.”

DENVER — A new report released Wednesday by Environment Colorado’s Research and Policy Center notes that Colorado slid one spot in 2014 to 10th nationally among states with the highest solar electricity capacity per capita.

Environment Colorado is a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization based in Denver.

Colorado — according the report written by Gideon Weissman of Frontier Group and Rob Sargent of Environment America Research and Policy Center — had a per capita solar generation capacity of 74 watts per person.

Hawaii leaped above Arizona for the top spot on the list with 312 watts per…

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