In 2013, the U.S installed 4,211 MW of solar capacity, bringing the total solar capacity to over 10.5 GW, according to the Solar Power stats released by Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA). Before 2013, the country had 6,298 MW installed solar capacity.
In 2013, 2627 MW of solar capacity was installed by utilities. Residential U.S solar capacity reached 679 MW in 2013, and non-residential capacity reached 906 MW during the same period.
With a total of 5,537 MW solar energy installed, California maintained the lead as the top solar energy state in the country. Arizona was ranked second with a huge difference (1,026 MW), followed closely by New Jersey (1,012 MW).
Other major contributing states in the descending order of solar energy capacity are: North Carolina, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Florida, with North Carolina contributing 351 MW and the bottommost – Florida– contributing 188 MW.