The Solar Century: Landmark Moments in the History of Solar Energy

Solar power has gone from a lab experiment to a mainstream part of the U.S. grid over the past 70 years. The first silicon solar cell was built in 1954, and progress was slow for decades. But since 2005, when Congress created the federal solar tax credit, growth has sped up fast. That credit, extended multiple times since, including in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, is widely credited as the single biggest reason solar became affordable for homes and businesses. The Inflation Reduction Act also added the first standalone tax credit for battery storage and new incentives for U.S.-made solar equipment.

The numbers show how far things have come. The U.S. passed 6 million solar installations in early 2026, with a new project going in roughly every minute nationwide. By late 2025, solar and battery storage together made up 79% of all new electricity capacity added to the grid, and in May 2026 solar generated more electricity than coal for the first time ever. Manufacturing has shifted too: every step of making a solar panel, from raw polysilicon to the finished module, is now done in the U.S. for the first time since 2016.

None of this changes what's available in any single state, since incentives and net metering rules still vary by location. But it shows solar and home battery systems are no longer a niche choice. If you're weighing a rooftop system or storage for your own house, it's worth checking what federal credits and your state's programs currently offer, since these policies have shifted before and could again.