Solar power in Nebraska is used for only a very small percentage of the state's electricity, although it is rapidly becoming competitive with grid electricity, due to the decrease in cost and the 30% tax credit, which can be used to install systems of any size. In 2024, the state ranked 44th among the 50 U.S. states with 203 MW of installed capacity.[1]
Solar power and wind power could be harvested to provide all of Nebraska's energy need, although they would require either transmission lines to provide power when neither is available or storage. Estimates show that Nebraska could generate 3,832,600 GWh/year from wind,[2] and 34.1% of demand from rooftop solar panels, using 8,200 MW of solar panels.[3]
Nebraska had seven utility-scale solar installations sized larger than 1.0 MW at the end of 2019.[4] These include a 5.8 MW system in Kearney and a 3.6 MW system in Lexington; both commissioned in 2017.[5] A 3.6 MW community solar plant on the west side of Lincoln was to be finished in 2016.[6]
DateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:6.5TimeAxis = orientation:verticalScaleMajor = unit:month increment:1 start:0 TextData = pos:(15,220) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:hrs pos:(205,25) textcolor:black fontsize:S text:Month pos:(90,230) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:Grand Island Sun hours/day (avg = 5.29 hrs/day) Colors = id:yellow value:yellow PlotData= width:20 textcolor:black bar:Jan color:yellow from:0 till:4.24 text:4.24 shift:(-10,60) bar:Feb color:yellow from:0 till:4.76 text:4.76 shift:(-10,65) bar:Mar color:yellow from:0 till:5.34 text:5.34 shift:(-10,70) bar:Apr color:yellow from:0 till:5.78 text:5.78 shift:(-10,75) bar:May color:yellow from:0 till:5.76 text:5.76 shift:(-10,75) bar:Jun color:yellow from:0 till:6.16 text:6.16 shift:(-10,80) bar:Jul color:yellow from:0 till:6.27 text:6.27 shift:(-10,80) bar:Aug color:yellow from:0 till:6.25 text:6.25 shift:(-10,80) bar:Sep color:yellow from:0 till:5.70 text:5.70 shift:(-10,75) bar:Oct color:yellow from:0 till:5.24 text:5.24 shift:(-10,70) bar:Nov color:yellow from:0 till:4.20 text:4.20 shift:(-10,55) bar:Dec color:yellow from:0 till:3.76 text:3.76 shift:(-10,50) Source: NREL[7] |
| Year | Capacity | Change | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 0.2 | 0.2 | >100% | |
| 2011 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 50% | |
| 2012 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 33% | |
| 2013 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 50% | |
| 2014 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 33% | |
| 2015 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 37% | |
| 2016 | 14.2 | 13.1 | 1190% | |
| 2017 | 35.2 | 21.0 | 148% | |
| 2018 | 43.2 | 8.0 | 23% | |
| 2019 | 55.2 | 12.0 | 28% | |
| 2020 | 63.0 | 7.8 | 14% | |
| 2021 | 73.6 | 10.6 | % | |
| 2022 | 83 | 9.4 | % |
| Year | Total | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2017 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 27 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2019 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 55 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| 2021 | 57 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 |