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A new report finds Pennsylvania’s use of solar energy is on the rise, but the state still falls behind most of the country in adding more renewable energy on the grid. 

The environmental group PennEnvironment’s latest analysis found that, since 2016, the state ranked 47th in the nation in adding renewables like wind, solar and geothermal to the power grid.

“That’s a pretty abysmal ranking,” said Belle Sherwood, a clean energy advocate for PennEnvironment. “Since we’ve been releasing this report, Pennsylvania has pretty much been stagnant in the bottom five.”

The report shows that the states with the highest use of renewables are west of the Mississippi. South Dakota, for instance, gets 95 percent of its electricity from renewables, mainly wind power. 

Pennsylvania only gets about 5 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. Its largest source is natural gas, which accounts for around half the state’s electricity, according to federal data. 

“Pennsylvania continues to not embrace the benefits both economic and environmental of clean energy, like wind and solar,” Sherwood said. 

Sherwood attributed the state’s low ranking to a lack of governmental support. Pennsylvania’s alternative energy portfolio standards, which set benchmarks for the amount of renewable energy on the grid in the state, were established in 2004. Since then, other states have set more aggressive standards, while Pennsylvania’s standard remains at 8 percent renewables. 

“There are no policies that have really gone out of their way to incentivize solar or incentivize wind adoption,” Sherwood said. “And in fact, we’ve seen a lot of policies pop up in the state house, but also in a lot of municipalities and townships and boroughs, that are actively preventing solar installations from getting built.”

Among the policies Sherwood says would boost renewables in the state is the Pennsylvania Reliable Energy Sustainability Standard, or PRESS, which would raise the state’s renewable energy standard to 35 percent. That legislation was championed by Gov. Josh Shapiro but has not been passed by Pennsylvania’s legislature. 

Some bright spots for renewable energy

Still, there are some bright spots for the state’s renewable industry. The state ranks 23rd in the total amount of renewable energy on the grid. And in the last two years alone, the amount of solar power has more than doubled in Pennsylvania. The state now has enough solar power to power 300-thousand homes, according to the report.

Pennsylvania ranks 11th in the percent increase in EV charging ports from 2016 to 2025, with over 1,000 more charging ports installed since 2023.

Sherwood said that the increase in solar installations is driven largely by clean energy tax credits enacted by the Biden administration through the Inflation Reduction Act. President Trump’s signature tax cut bill, passed by a Republican Congress last year, phased out those tax credits.