Honolulu ranked first among the nation’s 50 largest cities for photovoltaic solar installed per capita, and placed third in total existing solar PV capacity installed to date, according to a survey released Wednesday by the nonprofit organizations Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group.

Since the annual survey started in 2013, Honolulu has held first place for PV installed per resident, which amounted to 840.88 watts in 2019, followed by San Diego with 294.8 watts per capita.

The report, “Shining Cities 2020,” states that more solar capacity was added to the U.S. grid in 2019 than any other energy source, but also warns against loss of momentum in arresting climate change, through such goals as Hawaii’s pledge to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2045, due to the economic crash caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“The United States now has more than 77 gigawatts (GW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity installed — enough to power more than one in every 10 homes in America,” the report said, compared with approximately 11 GW installed in 2013.

Honolulu’s total solar PV installed in 2019 was 292.12 megawatts, behind San Diego, which placed second with 420.38 megawatts and top-ranked Los Angeles with 483.8 megawatts. Last year, Honolulu climbed back to third place, a position it attained in 2016 and 2017, after having ranked fourth in 2018 and 2019.

“Cities are leading the charge to install clean, renewable solar energy,” said Wendy Wendlandt, acting president of Environment America, in a statement. “Each year of our study we’ve found that more local leaders are pursuing solar projects and smart local policies.”

In 2013, the first year of the study, eight of the cities surveyed had enough solar PV per capita to qualify as “Solar Stars” (cities with 50 or more watts of solar PV capacity installed per capita). In 2019, that number jumped to 26 cities.

The authors called for continued commitment to solar energy growth. Their recommendations included net energy metering, in which owners of rooftop solar systems earn credits for excess energy they deliver to the grid.

Net metering ended in Hawaii in 2015, after which Oahu solar permits dropped by between 33% and 50%, according to the Hawaii Solar Energy Association.

“Now is the time to build the future we need, which means supporting the clean energy sector through the pandemic and incentivising the broad deployment of clean energy technologies like solar at the federal level so we can advance a future powered entirely by renewable energy sources,” said Johanna Neumann, senior director of Environment America’s campaign for 100% renewable energy.

The report can be viewed at environmentamerica.org/feature/ame/shining- cities-2020.

Community members also can share their ideas and priorities for green energy and curbing fossil fuel emissions that spur climate change by filling out a survey by Honolulu’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency, which is seeking public input by May 31 for its first Climate Action Plan. Go to resilientoahu.org/virtual-cap.