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West Virginia, United States

463GWh
every year, from one 325-watt panel on each of 1,173,366 buildings.

What that is equal to

🏠 44.1 thousand
homes powered for a year
at the US average of 10,500 kWh per household
🌍 172 thousand t
CO₂ avoided annually
displacing grid power at 0.371 kg CO₂e/kWh (EPA eGRID)
🚗 37.3 thousand
cars taken off the road
an average passenger vehicle emits 4.6 t CO₂e a year
⚡ 1.32 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 9.7¢ a kWh against a local price of 16.8¢ — 42% cheaper than local power. The install is repaid after 14.0 years, inside the panel's 25-year life.
9.7¢ vs 16.8¢
cost per kWh: this panel vs the grid
levelised over 25 years including 0.5%/yr degradation
$1.06 billion
to fit every building here
1,173,366 panels at $900 installed each
14.0 years
to break even
saving $77.7 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 WV 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 roofs1,173,366
×  Panel rating325 W
×  Annual yield per panel here394.4 kWh
Annual generation462,768,367 kWh
Assumptions and limitations
  • Yield is specific to this location: 394.4 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 West Virginia

Kanawha County · 39.4 GWhBerkeley County · 21.9 GWhCabell County · 19.9 GWhWood County · 19 GWhRaleigh County · 19.1 GWhMonongalia County · 17.1 GWhHarrison County · 16.2 GWhMercer County · 16 GWhMarion County · 13 GWhPutnam County · 12.3 GWhJefferson County · 12.1 GWhPreston County · 10.6 GWhGreenbrier County · 11.3 GWhFayette County · 10.6 GWhWayne County · 10.6 GWhMarshall County · 9.54 GWhOhio County · 8.73 GWhMason County · 8.6 GWhRandolph County · 8.7 GWhJackson County · 8.44 GWhNicholas County · 8.11 GWhHampshire County · 8.11 GWhLogan County · 7.86 GWhHancock County · 7.21 GWhMineral County · 7.43 GWhUpshur County · 6.91 GWhBrooke County · 5.67 GWhWyoming County · 6.08 GWhLewis County · 5.73 GWhMingo County · 5.81 GWhMcDowell County · 5.78 GWhMorgan County · 5.58 GWhHardy County · 5.45 GWhBarbour County · 5.01 GWhMonroe County · 5.51 GWhLincoln County · 5.25 GWhPendleton County · 5.32 GWhBraxton County · 4.57 GWhSummers County · 4.88 GWhPocahontas County · 4.55 GWhTaylor County · 4.42 GWhWetzel County · 4.38 GWhGrant County · 4.23 GWhRoane County · 4.42 GWhBoone County · 4.35 GWhRitchie County · 3.66 GWhWebster County · 3.13 GWhTucker County · 2.99 GWhTyler County · 2.99 GWhDoddridge County · 2.77 GWhGilmer County · 2.77 GWhCalhoun County · 2.31 GWhClay County · 2.27 GWhPleasants County · 2.06 GWhWirt County · 2 GWh

Metro areas in West Virginia

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV · 776 GWhHuntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH · 86.4 GWhHagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV · 64.1 GWhCharleston, WV · 59.8 GWhWheeling, WV-OH · 34.6 GWhWinchester, VA-WV · 33.7 GWhWeirton-Steubenville, WV-OH · 30.2 GWhBluefield, WV-VA · 31.2 GWhBeckley, WV · 29.6 GWhMorgantown, WV · 27.7 GWhClarksburg, WV · 23.4 GWhCumberland, MD-WV · 23 GWhParkersburg-Vienna, WV · 21 GWhPoint Pleasant, WV-OH · 17.9 GWhFairmont, WV · 13 GWhElkins, WV · 8.7 GWhMount Gay-Shamrock, WV · 7.86 GWh

Places like West Virginia

Utah · 662 GWhNebraska · 580 GWhNew Mexico · 673 GWhNevada · 651 GWhIdaho · 490 GWhMaine · 350 GWh