In the first quarter of this year, the United States installed 437 megawatts of residential solar PV, breaking all previous records for the market segment.

In March, we held a competition to see if any of our readers could predict which 16 states would install the most residential solar for a chance to win full conference pass to this month’s Grid Edge Live. The results from our U.S. Solar Market Insight report are in, and we have scored the brackets.

*Drumroll please*

Mathew Sachs, vice president of origination at K Road DG, beat out the competition, correctly guessing 14 of the top 16 states in terms of residential solar installed in the first 3 months of the year.

Here are the top 10 states.

Top 10 States: U.S. Residential Solar Installed, Q1 2015

  1. California
  2. New York
  3. Arizona
  4. Massachusetts
  5. New Jersey
  6. Hawaii
  7. Maryland
  8. Connecticut
  9. Colorado
  10. Louisiana

Source: GTM Research / SEIA U.S. Solar Market Insight report, Q1 2015


The clear leader, California, installed 232 megawatts of residential solar in the first quarter of the year. GTM Research expects California’s residential market to grow 71 percent this year.

New York took the No. 2 spot after installing 45 megawatts of residential solar. According to the report, “the rollout of NYSERDA’s attractive MW Block Incentive Program for residential solar, paired with high retail rates downstate, has been a recipe for rapid scale, cementing New York’s position as the second-largest market behind California for quarters (and years) to come.”

Arizona installed 27 megawatts of residential solar, good for third place for the quarter.

The average cost for a residential solar system across all states is now $3.48 per watt, 10 percent lower than this time last year.

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To see installation data, forecasts and analysis for every state, purchase the full report here.