Summary: Photovoltaic solar electric generation mostly started in the U.S. Specifically:
In the 1980s, Solarex production premises rooftops in Frederick, Maryland, were equipped with photovoltaic systems with 200 kW peak power. ARCO Solar built a 1 MW PV power plant with modules on over 108 double-axis trackers in Hesperia, California. On behalf of Ford, Bacon & Davis, Utah, Wasatch Electric built a 105.6 kW system in the State of Utah. The modules integrated into the system were produced by Motorola, ARCO Solar and Spectrolab. The facility is still operating and is being maintained by a National Park Service contractor and supplies power to the headquarters of Natural Bridges National Monument in Southern Utah. A system with peak power of 90.4 kW, with modules produced by Solar Power Corporation, was built in Square Shopping Center in Lovington, New Mexico. A similar system was built for Beverly High School in Beverly, Massachusetts…
However, sometime between then and now, the US punted the solar ball to off-shore solid-state electronics firms…
But due to recent tariff-wars declared by a certain plump executive in Washington DC, the cost of solar-technology in the U.S. has skyrocketed. This has set the stage for solar-technology to return home.
