Solar power in Alaska has been primarily used in remote locations, [1] such as the Nenana Teen Center [2] near Fairbanks, where long summer days provide most of the electricity generated. [3] [4] In 2015, Alaska ranked 45th in installed solar among U.S. states. [5] Rooftop solar panels could provide 23% of all electricity used in Alaska. [6] Net metering is available for PV systems up to 25 kW but is limited to 1.5% of average demand. [7] IREC best practices, based on experience, recommends no limits to net metering, individual or aggregate, and perpetual roll over of kWh credits. [8]
In 2011, Alaska's largest solar array was the 17.28 kW array installed on a building in Anchorage. [9] [10] A 12 kW solar array installed in Lime Village in July 2001 helped reduce electricity costs. [11] [12]
Annual insolation and thus power production per capacity installed in Alaska is similar to central Europe, where Germany became a leader in worldwide solar power use in the years around 2010.
|
Grid-Connected PV Capacity (MWp) [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Capacity | Change | % Change | |||||||||
2010 | <0.1 | |||||||||||
2011 | <0.1 | |||||||||||
2012 | <0.1 | |||||||||||
2013 | 0.2 | 0.2 | >100% | |||||||||
2014 | 0.39 | 0.21 | 20% | |||||||||
2015 | 0.72 | 0.33 | 85% | |||||||||
2016 | 0.95 | 0.23 | 32% | |||||||||
2017 | 1.75 | 0.8 | 84% | |||||||||
2018 | 2.78 | 1.23 | 70% | |||||||||
2019 | 7.78 | 5 | 180% | |||||||||
2020 | 12.1 | 4.32 | 56% | |||||||||
2021 | 15.4 | 3.3 | 27% | |||||||||
2022 | 18 | 2.6 | % |