New Report: Shining Cities

Cities consume a staggering amount of electricity, and many cities have been choked with air pollution in the effort to meet these energy needs. But energy does not need to come at the cost of clean air—modern cities have cut through the fog (or smog, as it were) to harness a smart, clean energy source: solar panels.

Cities have millions of square feet of rooftop space on which solar panels can generate clean, local electricity. In addition to helping cities reduce air pollution, solar power helps cities build resilient communities and create local jobs. As we find in our new report, Shining Cities: At the Forefront of America’s Solar Energy Revolution, solar power is taking off in many U.S. cities thanks to strong local policies.

Solar power is taking off across the country: the United States has more than 200 times as much solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity installed today as it did in 2002, and cities are leading the way. Here are a few examples of how cities are taking the lead:

• New Orleans worked with its local utility to streamline solar permitting and offer net metering to city residents—now the city produces more solar electricity than is consumed in 2,500 average homes in a year.
• Portland, the city of rain, created the nation’s first “solarize”campaign to help residents learn about solar incentives and provide them access to solar panels; it is ranked in the top 15 cities for solar power among the 57 in our study.
• Los Angeles—the city with the most total installed solar power—provides an exception for solar panels in its zoning code’s building height restrictions, and just kicked off the nation’s largest feed-in tariff program, which gives energy producers a fixed and long-term contract for solar electricity produced.
• New York City moved from having just 1 MW of installed solar PV capacity in 2007 to 33 MW today, in part as a result of collaboration between city officials and the investor-owned utility Con Edison. New York City ranks among the top 10 cities in our report for cumulative installed solar PV. 

These are only a few of the many cities that have embraced the opportunities created by solar power. Cities across the country can do more to follow the example of the leaders highlighted in this report—and the time is now to get on board. Cities that promote solar today are poised to continue to reap the benefits of local renewable energy amidst a dramatic rise in solar power in the United States.