page_title: Solar power in Pennsylvania
section_title: Outlook
hierarchical_section_title: Solar power in Pennsylvania / Outlook
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Solar Resource Map - concentrating solar power (CSP) resource potential for the United States - High Resolution (poster size) (JPG 5.63 MB)
context_page_description: Solar power in Pennsylvania currently provides less than 1% of the state's electricity, but there are many policies in place to regulate and incentivize its use. Pennsylvania mandates the use of solar power through a renewable portfolio standard, which requires a percentage of electricity from each providers to come from solar, and net metering, which compensates small-scale solar generation through net metering. By 2021, Pennsylvania is required to have 0.5% of its electricity from solar. Solar power could theoretically provide over 30% of the state's electricity, but growth in solar generation has slowed due to a reduction in solar grants and the low price of solar energy credits.
context_section_description: Solar power in Pennsylvania has potential for expansion and could both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve public health, but growth is limited by the state's low sun exposure. If all usable rooftop space in Pennsylvania had photovoltaic panels installed, those panels would be capable of providing 34.5% of the state's electricity. Each kilowatt of installed solar capacity has a societal benefit of over $100 in parts of western and southeastern Pennsylvania, when combining environmental and public health benefits from emissions reductions. However, solar plants in Pennsylvania frequently have low capacity factors (ratio of power produced to maximum possible power), in large part due to low levels of incoming solar radiation. The state on average receives approximately 60% - 65% as much radiation as the southwest United States.
  The requirements for solar generation stop increasing under the Pennsylvania AEPS in 2021, when it will remain at 0.5% going forward. Using funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, the state began a new program in 2017, Finding Pennsylvania's Solar Future, that aims to take input from stakeholders and produce new policy recommendations regarding solar power in the state. A preliminary goal is to increase the percentage of electricity sales coming from in-state solar to 10%, with a final goal and timeline for implementation to be determined.
caption: Average incoming solar radiation for the United States; Pennsylvania receives less than much of the country
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