Prov. metro 18th among largest metros for number of solar power units

BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONS for new solar power systems continues to accelerate, according to BuildZoom. / COURTESY BUILDZOOM
BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONS for new solar power systems continues to accelerate, according to BuildZoom. / COURTESY BUILDZOOM

PROVIDENCE – The Providence-Warwick-Fall River metropolitan area ranked 18th among the 50 largest metros in the country for its number of solar power systems installed last year.
The Providence metro had 3.45 cumulative solar power systems installed per 1,000 residents at the end of 2015, an increase from 1.52 installed at the end of 2014, according to data released Wednesday by BuildZoom, an online marketplace for general contractors.
The website tracked the number of solar power systems in the United States and their distribution across regions, ranking the largest metro areas by solar power penetration – the estimated number of solar power systems per capita. It said more than 325,000 new solar power systems were added last year, showing that the pace of new solar power addition continued to accelerate.
Nationwide, California continues to account for almost half of all new solar power systems, it said. California also held seven of the 10 metro areas with the highest solar power penetration rates. The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., metro area ranked first in the nation for its number of solar systems installed per 1,000 residents last year, increasing to 16.66 from 10.71 the year before.
The Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-NH, metro area just missed the top 10, coming in 11th for 6.92 solar power systems installed compared with 4.25 the year before. The Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn., metro area ranked 16th for 3.93 systems versus 1.53 the prior year.
BuildZoom said SolarCity and Vivint Solar continue to top of the list of largest installation contractors, holding 35.3 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively, of the national share of building permit applications for solar power systems.

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