🌤️Residential Solar Panel Installations and Capacity

Goal D: A Net Zero Carbon Region

Installed residential photovoltaic capacity 2020: 268MW 

Installed residential PV growth 2016 to 2020: 75% 

rBoth MetroCommon and the state’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan highlight the need to decarbonize the energy sector by shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy, especially to electricity from renewable sources. Achieving our regional and state electrification goals will require major expansion of clean energy infrastructure, including infrastructure for solar and wind production, transmission networks, and energy storage. The CECP anticipates the state will need 20 gigawatts (GW) of solar-generated electricity capacity by the year 2050. While large-scale renewable energy production is the backbone of this plan, small-scale solar also has a role to play. The widespread installation of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems will help us towards this goal while also increasing power grid resilience to local outages. Maximizing the installation of rooftop PV will also reduce the need for ground-level PV installations that will consume limited open space across the Commonwealth.

The overall installed capacity of residential PV systems has been growing steadily over the last decade both in the MAPC region and statewide. In 2020, total statewide residential PV capacity exceeded 800MW, one third (268MW) in the MAPC region. While the electricity generated by these PV installations remains a small share of the total electricity consumption in the state (about six percent of residential electric consumption), the new installed capacity has increased 75 percent from 2016 to 2020, both statewide and in the MAPC region. While there are upper limits on the amount of rooftop space available for PV installation, the CECP ‘All Options’ pathway sets a target of at least 7GW of installed rooftop capacity by 2050. While residential rooftops are just a part of total rooftop capacity available, at current rates (90GW installed per year statewide, 30GW in the MAPC region) we would achieve 3.5GW of residential rooftop PV capacity by 2050, about half of the overall rooftop target. Accelerating the production of renewable energy at local levels will thus require the expansion of rebate and incentive programs, specifically with an increased focus on lowering the costs of PV installations for lower income homeowners across the state.

MetroCommon Goals: A Net Zero Carbon Region goals D.2 and D.3

MetroCommon Recommendations: Clean Energy Future, Action 1.2 and 1.3