California Residential Solar Growth
California solar installations increased by over 20% in the 1st quarter of 2016 with 41,471 installations, compared to 34,539 in the first quarter of 2015. Total solar penetration, as defined as the percentage of housing units with solar, increased to 4.5% (476,877 residential installations divided by 10.6 million housing units).
California Zip Codes and Cities with the Highest Solar Penetration
As noted by the recent Solar City research, word of mouth in neighborhoods can be a main driver of solar sales, resulting in higher penetration in certain areas. Solar penetration has reached over 30% in certain zip codes. The chart below presents the zip codes (minimum of 5,000 housing units) that have the highest solar penetration as of March 2016, including zip codes in Bakersfield, San Diego and Sacramento areas.
The map below is constructed using data from the California Solar Initiative and presents solar penetration by zip code.
