US small-scale solar made an estimated 92,979 GWh in 2025, EIA says

Rooftop and other small-scale solar systems in the US generated an estimated 92,979 GWh in 2025, nearly five times the 18,812 GWh of 2016, by our arithmetic from figures the U.S. Energy Information Administration published on October 16, 2026. The figures cover systems smaller than 1 megawatt, and they are modeled rather than metered: utilities do not necessarily know how much their customers' panels produce, so EIA estimates generation from the capacity its utility surveys collect.

California still makes the biggest share by far. The state produced 34,411 GWh in 2025, 37% of the national total, and its output grew 8% from 2024 as small-scale capacity rose from 18 GW to 20 GW. Arizona is a distant second at 5,795 GWh, just over 6% of the total, after growth of only 6% in 2025. Arizona customers can claim a 25% state income-tax credit for rooftop solar, among other incentives, EIA notes.

EIA highlights rapid growth further down the table. Texas went from 391 GWh in 2016 to 5,408 GWh in 2025, and Florida from 205 GWh to 5,198 GWh, increases of roughly 14-fold and 25-fold by our arithmetic. New York ranks fifth despite weaker sunshine, which EIA credits to capacity growth supported by technology improvements and state incentives. Among the states with similar programs, EIA names New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois.

EIA singles out 2022, when generation grew 25% from the year before amid record capacity growth. EIA ties part of that to California's NEM 2.0 net metering program, available through April 2023, which paid more for exports than the net billing tariff that replaced it; every system built under it was grandfathered. The deadline pulled installations forward, in EIA's telling.

Growth has slowed since 2022, EIA says, though output still rises every year. EIA's estimate covers the whole installed base of small-scale systems; new residential installations are a separate number, and those fell 12% year over year in Q2 2026.