Community solar expands access to clean energy, lower electricity bills, and energy democracy to renters and homeowners without the means to invest in rooftop solar. Many states have created policies that enable community solar programs to flourish — independent of monopoly utility control.
ILSR tracks community solar capacity in states with formal programs that allow non-utility ownership.* Explore which states lead the country in community solar capacity, how the community solar market has grown by state, and how much each state contributes to total U.S. community solar capacity below.
New Jersey leads in quarter-over-quarter growth with 17% (32 MW) followed by New York (6%, 171 MW), and Oregon (6%, 5 MW).
Four states saw growth rates increase quarter-over-quarter: Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Oregon.
Minnesota is the only state whose year-over-year 2025 growth rate (4%) was higher than it was in 2024 (2%).
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Many utilities offer so-called “community solar” projects that they own, and force subscribers to pay a premium — thus maintaining monopoly control over the market and pocketing any profits for their shareholders.
To further energy democracy, community solar needs supportive state policy that allows non-utility developers to build and own solar gardens, establishes a fair price for utilities to pay for community solar power, and sets up a process for billing and crediting subscribers. States can and should go even further to design community solar programs that promote racial and economic equity.
*Our tracking, updated quarterly, is limited to states with accessible and regularly maintained datasets. We are not yet able to track capacity in Alaska, California, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Virginia, or Washington.
D.C. and Colorado report their community solar figures annually. Maryland’s comprehensive Q4 2025 community solar data were not released in time for this report. Massachusetts is transitioning to a third iteration of the state’s main solar incentive program (SMART 3.0) with their reporting system for community solar projects that come online under SMART 3.0 still in development. Maine officially ended its community solar program in December 2025, but ILSR will continue to include community solar data from Maine in the tracker because projects under development when Maine still had a program may still come on line.
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