There Are Four Coal Plants Worth of Solar Power On America's Rooftops

Coal is the power of the past, and solar is part of the future. Obviously. So good news, this: especially in states that offer solid incentives and innovative leasing plans, Americans are throwing solar panels on their rooftops all over the place. Thing is, it’s been kind of hard to keep track of all those solar installations; how many were up, and where? How much power were they all generating?

The government wanted to know, so it crunched the numbers. The Energy Information Administration estimates that there is 3,500 MW of solar capacity—rooftop panel arrays, big fat solar plants in the desert, concentrated solar, etc—currently laid out in the US of A. That’s a lot. Of that 1,000 MW is from the big stuff; giant utility-owned systems like those that sprawl out across the Mojave.

The rest is all over the place; it’s what you call distributed solar power. Grist’s Philip Bump describes how that part breaks down: “The rest of the capacity is on-site, either residential or commercial. Commercial installations, like those atop big-box stores, have about 1,500 megawatts in capacity.” And, he notes, “Residential has about 1,000 megawatts — equivalent to about four coal-powered plants.”

There’s the equivalent to four coal plants’ worth of power on Americans’ roofs. The number is big, sure, and it means we’ve seen important progress. But it also means that we’re starting to change the way that we think about the electricity we use; we’re developing a more intimate relationship with our power production and consumption. And that’s the way that it’s going to be in the future; we’re going to have a much better idea of where our power comes from and where we use it. We’re going to have to.

The old model, the one that built 20th century industrial society, was central power: one ginormous power plant feeding an entire city. Usually, that plant was coal-fired, but maybe gas, oil, or, eventually, nuclear. But that model is flawed, and far less versatile than the fast-rising distributed power alternative—if there’s a problem at the plant, there’s a problem with your power. If there’s a problem with the grid anywhere between the plant and you, there’s a problem with your power.

With rooftop or community solar panels (or small, local wind, or, yes, even those new mobile nuclear reactors), you’re connected directly to your power source. No 50 mile transmission lines. No massive, patchwork grid. This is the reality that’s risen up in Germany—not only does nearly half the nation get its power from solar on a given sunny day, but power is democratized and decentralized as well. Out with the Kraftwerk, in with Kommunale Solarstrom.

It means more control over and a better understanding of the power you generate and consume. You are your own utility. And now that there are four sun-powered coal plants spread out across the nation’s roofs, we’re going to start seeing that attitude develop all the faster. And good. There’s no better way to kill coal power than to replace it with your own.