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Minnesota, United States

1.28TWh
every year, from one 325-watt panel on each of 3,206,239 buildings.

What that is equal to

🏠 122 thousand
homes powered for a year
at the US average of 10,500 kWh per household
🌍 476 thousand t
CO₂ avoided annually
displacing grid power at 0.371 kg CO₂e/kWh (EPA eGRID)
🚗 103 thousand
cars taken off the road
an average passenger vehicle emits 4.6 t CO₂e a year
⚡ 3.67 billion
electric vehicle miles
at roughly 0.35 kWh per mile

The pay-off

It pays for itself here. A panel on this roof delivers electricity at 9.5¢ a kWh against a local price of 17.0¢ — 44% cheaper than local power. The install is repaid after 13.7 years, inside the panel's 25-year life.
9.5¢ vs 17.0¢
cost per kWh: this panel vs the grid
levelised over 25 years including 0.5%/yr degradation
$2.89 billion
to fit every building here
3,206,239 panels at $900 installed each
13.7 years
to break even
saving $217 million a year area-wide at today's price

Assumes $900 to install one 325 W panel — hardware, mounting, microinverter, electrical work, labour and permitting — repaid only by the electricity it avoids buying. No subsidies, tax credits, net-metering premium, financing cost or future price rises are counted, and the figure is undiscounted. Electricity price is the MN residential average (EIA, May 2026). A single panel is unusually expensive per watt because it carries a whole array's fixed costs, which is why these numbers look worse than rooftop solar generally does.

How this is calculated

Buildings with roofs3,206,239
×  Panel rating325 W
×  Annual yield per panel here400.1 kWh
Annual generation1,282,796,653 kWh
Assumptions and limitations
  • Yield is specific to this location: 400.1 kWh per panel per year, from NASA POWER climatology transposed onto a tilted roof plane. The same panel makes roughly 596 kWh in Phoenix and 265 kWh in Anchorage.
  • Assumes a south-facing roof at a typical residential pitch, with a ~22% total system loss for soiling, shading, wiring, inverter, and heat.
  • Counts every above-ground structure with a footprint of at least 20 m², so garages and outbuildings are excluded but barns and sheds of real size are not. Building data is machine-derived and imperfect.
  • No account is taken of roof orientation, obstructions, structural condition, or whether the owner wants a panel.

Counties in Minnesota

Hennepin County · 186 GWhRamsey County · 82.3 GWhDakota County · 64.2 GWhSt. Louis County · 58.9 GWhAnoka County · 57.1 GWhWashington County · 41.6 GWhStearns County · 37.4 GWhWright County · 30.6 GWhOlmsted County · 31.1 GWhOtter Tail County · 27.7 GWhCrow Wing County · 23.6 GWhScott County · 23.2 GWhItasca County · 19.2 GWhSherburne County · 18.7 GWhCarver County · 18.4 GWhCass County · 16.1 GWhMorrison County · 14.4 GWhBecker County · 14.4 GWhChisago County · 13.8 GWhBeltrami County · 13.4 GWhGoodhue County · 13.7 GWhDouglas County · 13.9 GWhClay County · 13.6 GWhWinona County · 13.1 GWhPine County · 12.5 GWhBlue Earth County · 13.2 GWhKandiyohi County · 13 GWhRice County · 12.5 GWhTodd County · 12.1 GWhMower County · 12.4 GWhCarlton County · 11.6 GWhPolk County · 12 GWhIsanti County · 11.2 GWhAitkin County · 10.8 GWhFillmore County · 10.6 GWhFreeborn County · 10.7 GWhHubbard County · 9.68 GWhMcLeod County · 10.1 GWhBenton County · 9.8 GWhMille Lacs County · 9.33 GWhBrown County · 9.39 GWhSteele County · 8.47 GWhMeeker County · 8.4 GWhLe Sueur County · 8.26 GWhWabasha County · 7.96 GWhLyon County · 7.91 GWhNicollet County · 7.65 GWhHouston County · 7.43 GWhRoseau County · 7.05 GWhNobles County · 7.6 GWhRenville County · 7.12 GWhKanabec County · 6.91 GWhMartin County · 7.18 GWhRedwood County · 6.91 GWhDodge County · 6.15 GWhFaribault County · 6.32 GWhPope County · 6.04 GWhWadena County · 5.73 GWhSibley County · 5.96 GWhKoochiching County · 5.3 GWhMarshall County · 5.77 GWhYellow Medicine County · 5.7 GWhPennington County · 5.46 GWhWaseca County · 5.38 GWhLake County · 4.63 GWhSwift County · 5.01 GWhChippewa County · 4.95 GWhMurray County · 4.91 GWhJackson County · 4.87 GWhCottonwood County · 4.69 GWhLac qui Parle County · 4.75 GWhPipestone County · 4.49 GWhRock County · 4.48 GWhWatonwan County · 4.1 GWhStevens County · 3.94 GWhClearwater County · 3.72 GWhLincoln County · 4 GWhNorman County · 3.76 GWhCook County · 3.04 GWhGrant County · 3.41 GWhWilkin County · 3.29 GWhLake of the Woods County · 3.05 GWhKittson County · 3.19 GWhBig Stone County · 3.21 GWhRed Lake County · 2.75 GWhTraverse County · 2.48 GWhMahnomen County · 2.06 GWh

Metro areas in Minnesota

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI · 597 GWhDuluth, MN-WI · 89.5 GWhRochester, MN · 55.8 GWhSt. Cloud, MN · 47.2 GWhFargo, ND-MN · 44.8 GWhBrainerd, MN · 39.7 GWhLa Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN · 31.6 GWhFergus Falls, MN · 27.7 GWhGrand Forks, ND-MN · 25.9 GWhGrand Rapids, MN · 19.2 GWhMankato, MN · 20.8 GWhBemidji, MN · 13.4 GWhRed Wing, MN · 13.7 GWhAlexandria, MN · 13.9 GWhWinona, MN · 13.1 GWhWillmar, MN · 13 GWhFaribault-Northfield, MN · 12.5 GWhAustin, MN · 12.4 GWhWahpeton, ND-MN · 10.8 GWhAlbert Lea, MN · 10.7 GWhHutchinson, MN · 10.1 GWhNew Ulm, MN · 9.39 GWhOwatonna, MN · 8.47 GWhMarshall, MN · 7.91 GWhWorthington, MN · 7.6 GWhFairmont, MN · 7.18 GWh

Places like Minnesota

Tennessee · 1.56 TWhWashington · 1.34 TWhMissouri · 1.47 TWhArizona · 1.84 TWhAlabama · 1.31 TWhNew Jersey · 1.14 TWh