When people think of solar power, they tend to think of panels on rooftops.

    Strength #3: More states have plants The market for big solar used to be fairly concentrated in a few states, particularly states where it was required by mandates. But now that growth is expanding outside those mandates, the industry is starting to spread out. “To date,” writes GTM, “19 state markets have at least 50 megawatts of non-RPS utility-scale solar in development.”           Why is this geographic spread a strength? Politics. The more states where large-scale solar is a business interest, the more respect and assistance it will get from state politicians. As Jack Fitzpatrick notes in Morning Consult, “The number of U.S. House Republicans representing districts where there are utility-scale solar facilities increased from a measly 12 in 2008 to 88 in 2016.”         There are now as many Republicans as Democrats with solar power plants in their districts (and more Republicans with wind farms). The reason red districts are catching up (and pulling ahead) so fast is that they are more likely to be rural and have open, cheap land to attract developers. (Rural North Carolina, for instance, is going nuts over solar, in all kinds of ways.) As Fitzpatrick says, this geographic spread helps explain why (to everyone’s surprise) the renewable energy tax credits were extended last year. Despite the GOP’s notional opposition to energy subsidies, and a state-level fight against solar funded by the Koch brothers and carried out by state-level organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council, local and state-level Republicans welcome the economic benefits that renewable energy brings. This is especially true for big solar, which dodges many of the thorny issues being raised by customer-owned rooftop solar.  ...