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Solar output by city
Eighteen US cities, each simulated across a full year of sun angles, temperature and wind. Ranked by how much a single kilowatt of panels returns annually.
| City | kWh per kW / year | 7 kW system |
|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas, NV | 1,752 | 12,262 |
| Phoenix, AZ | 1,631 | 11,418 |
| San Diego, CA | 1,571 | 10,998 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 1,571 | 10,995 |
| Honolulu, HI | 1,542 | 10,792 |
| Fresno, CA | 1,532 | 10,724 |
| Denver, CO | 1,513 | 10,592 |
| San Francisco, CA | 1,510 | 10,569 |
| Salt Lake City, UT | 1,409 | 9,860 |
| Tampa, FL | 1,402 | 9,817 |
| Austin, TX | 1,366 | 9,560 |
| Atlanta, GA | 1,355 | 9,486 |
| Houston, TX | 1,296 | 9,069 |
| Boston, MA | 1,278 | 8,946 |
| Newark, NJ | 1,266 | 8,860 |
| Chicago, IL | 1,259 | 8,813 |
| New York, NY | 1,253 | 8,774 |
| Seattle, WA | 1,027 | 7,191 |
Output is only half the story. A city near the bottom of this table with
expensive electricity and a generous export rule can pay back faster than a sunnier city
with cheap power — which is what the calculator works out.