Dive Brief:
- Rankings of U.S. utilities based on how many new megawatts of solar they built in 2013 and how many megawatts per customer they have installed were released by the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), an organization in which utilities and the solar industry work together.
- The ranked utilities accounted for 82% of all new solar capacity in 2013, up from 73% in 2012. The top three builders of new solar in 2013, regulars throughout the seven year history of the listings, were Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E), and Arizona Public Service (APS).
- Also returning to the top ten list for new megawatts were Southern California Edison (SCE), Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G), Hawaiian Electric Company, and Duke Energy Carolinas, while Duke Energy Progress, National Grid, and Georgia Power made the rankings for the first time.
Dive Insight:
PG&E led in new megawatts for the sixth time in seven years.
This year’s rankings were based on responses from 287 U.S. utilities, up from 2013’s 256 utility reponses, according to a SEPA source.
The watts-per-customer rankings, which give small utilities the opportunity to shine, were led by Sterling Municipal Light Department (SMLD), a public power utility in Massachusetts that serves 3,700 customers.
SDG&E and Silicon Valley Power followed Sterling, with Arizona Public Service (APS), Hawaiian Electric Company, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Hawaii Electric Light, Maui Electric Company, Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC), and Imperial Irrigation District (IID) rounding out the top ten.
It is interesting that Hawaii’s utilities have such high watts-per-customer rankings because The Alliance for Solar Choice and other solar advocates claim HECO and other utilities there are obstructing solar progress while utilities say they are dealing with unprecedented levels of solar penetration.
