Sacramento's Solar Boom
Between 2016 and 2025, Sacramento issued 17,159 solar permits worth $2.3B in total project value. The breakdown of who, where, and when is more interesting than the total.
Permit Volume by Year
Solar adoption surged 32% from 2020 to 2021, driven by the ITC extension and pandemic home investment. Hover any data point to see the year-over-year change. Reference lines mark the Title 24 mandate (2020) and the ITC peak (2021).
Who Installed Sacramento's Solar?
Sunrun, SunPower, and SolarCity (now Tesla) dominate the retrofit side. Homebuilders Lennar and D.R. Horton are in the top installers too — Lennar was including solar as standard in North Natomas in 2016, four years before the state required it. Use the filter to switch between contractor types.
Where Did Solar Spread?
District 1 (North Natomas) dominated 2016–2021 because of Lennar's Northlake development: 1,137 homes, all with solar. District 3 jumped in 2019–2020 when Title 24 took effect. By 2024, the gap between districts is mostly gone. Click any district to isolate or compare.
Sacramento's solar story has three chapters: homebuilders wired it in (2016–2019, Lennar/D.R. Horton in North Natomas), the state mandated it (2020 Title 24), and the government funded it (2021 ITC extension peak). This growth came from policy and capital, not consumer demand pulling the market.
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