Influence of local environmental, social, economic and political variables on the spatial distribution of residential solar PV arrays across the United States

This study used ZIP code level data from the 2000 US Census to investigate the influence of local environmental, social, economic and political variables on the distribution of residential solar PV arrays across the United States. Current locations of residential solar PVs were documented using data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Open PV project. A zero-inflated negative binomial reression model was run to evaluate the influence of selected variables. Using the same model, predicted residential solar PV shares were generated and illustrated using GIS software. The results of the model indicate solar insolation, cost of electricity and amount of available financial incentives are important factors influencing adoption of residential solar PV arrays. Results also indicate the Southwestern region of the United States and the state of Florida are currently underperforming in terms of number of housing units with solar PV installations. ► I look at the effect of environmental, socio-economic and political factors on residential solar PV adoption. ► Over and underperforming areas respective to residential solar PV adoption in the United States were identified. ► GIS was used to evaluate predicted and observed residential solar PV shares by ZIP Code. ► Cost of electricity and financial incentives are positively correlated with solar PV adoption.