Solar energy is one of the fastest growing clean energy sources in the US, according to the Department of Energy. Of the more than 3 million solar energy installations in the US, about 1 million were built in the last two years.
That growth is especially true for residential-based solar power. In 2005, Congress passed a tax credit for residential solar generation. Since then, the number of US homes with installed solar panels increased by an average of 32% a year, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. At the end of 2020, there were about 2.7 million residential solar systems in the US.
Solar energy production overall has increased six-fold since 2014. Residential solar generated enough power to sustain an average of about 633,000 homes in 2014 to about 1.9 million homes in 2019, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
