 | ||
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 eight-year extension to the 30% tax credit, which can be used to install any size system. In 2015, the state ranked 47th among the 50 U.S. states with 1.1 MW of installed capacity. Solar power and wind power are easily able 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, and 34.1% of demand from rooftop solar panels, using 8,200 MW of solar panels. Large-area solar farms would generate many times demand.
Nebraska's largest solar installation is the 200 kW system in Central City. A group of arrays totaling 108.9 kW was installed at Creighton University. The second largest is the 45 kW array at the Norfolk Operations Center of Nebraska Public Power District. A 3.6 MW community solar plant at Lincoln is expected to be finished in 2016.
Source: NREL