Solar installations in San Diego County, CA
365,453 recorded installations in San Diego County, California — capacity, prices and the installers doing the work.
At a glance
San Diego County, California has 365,453 recorded solar installations totalling 3.9 GW of capacity — the highest count among the 58 California counties with records, and 15% of the state total. That is about 29.5% of the county's 1,240,607 housing units, against 16.6% statewide. The median installed price is $4.22/W before incentives, roughly in line with the California median of $4.26/W.
Dataset updated . Sources: LBNL Tracking the Sun + city permit records + state programs + USGS/EIA utility-scale.
Severe-weather exposure: solar sites here have been matched to an average of 2 hail and 3 high-wind NOAA storm events — a regional inspection/maintenance signal (proximity, not confirmed damage).
Search every recorded installation in San Diego County by installer, size, date and equipment.
Search sites →Independent check:Stanford's DeepSolar detected about 181,295 solar arrays here from 2018 satellite imagery — our recorded data covers roughly 202% of that. A yardstick, not dated records.
Most active
Top installers in San Diego County
| # | Installer | Installs here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunrun | 52,270 |
| 2 | Tesla | 28,091 |
| 3 | Baker Electric Solar | 23,523 |
| 4 | Semper Solaris | 17,058 |
| 5 | Sunpower | 12,754 |
| 6 | Stellar Solar | 9,680 |
| 7 | Bright Planet Solar | 9,080 |
| 8 | Sullivan Solar Power | 7,817 |
| 9 | Solartech Energy Systems | 5,948 |
| 10 | Sunline Energy | 5,381 |
Growth
Installations by year
How does San Diego County compare with the rest of California?
The median recorded system in San Diego County is 5.44 kW, roughly in line with the state median of 5.91 kW. 22% of installations here are third-party owned (lease or power-purchase agreement), compared with 29% across California. 45,985 systems (13%) of the county's records include battery storage, against 16% statewide. By share of housing units with a recorded system, San Diego County ranks 12th of 57 California counties with at least 10 installations.
How has solar adoption changed in San Diego County?
The earliest recorded installation in San Diego County dates to 1999. The busiest year on record is 2023, with 48,899 installations. 2025 has 19,602 recorded installations so far. The county's cumulative total rose from 205,032 at the end of 2020 to 365,453 today. Recent years fill in as state programs and permit offices report, so the latest counts are provisional.
Who installs solar in San Diego County?
Sunrun has the most recorded installations in San Diego County (52,270, 14% of the county's records). Other active installers here include Tesla, Baker Electric Solar and Semper Solaris. Installers based anywhere in California are listed in the state installer directory.
Frequently asked questions
How many homes have solar in San Diego County?
PanelCensus records 365,453 solar installations in San Diego County, California (3.9 GW of capacity) — about 29.5% of the county's 1,240,607 housing units (U.S. Census ACS). Coverage depends on California's public reporting, so the true total is likely higher.
How much does solar cost in San Diego County?
The median installed price for recorded systems in San Diego County is $4.22/W before incentives; the median system is 5.4 kW. The California median is $4.26/W.
Who installs solar in San Diego County?
The most active recorded installers in San Diego County are Sunrun (52,270), Tesla (28,091) and Baker Electric Solar (23,523).
How much of the solar in San Diego County is leased?
80,900 recorded installations (22%) in San Diego County are third-party owned — a lease or power-purchase agreement, compared with 29% across California.
How big is a typical solar system in San Diego County?
The median recorded system in San Diego County is 5.4 kW, against 5.9 kW for California as a whole.
More solar data near San Diego County
- Solar in California· 2,408,542 installations
- Solar installers in California
- Solar in Los Angeles County· 245,263 installations
- Solar in Riverside County· 218,965 installations
- Solar in San Bernardino County· 154,128 installations
- Solar in Orange County· 135,196 installations
- Solar in Fresno County· 109,231 installations
- Solar in Contra Costa County· 103,460 installations
County assignment is derived from installation ZIP codes via the Census 2020 ZCTA↔county crosswalk (primary county by land-area overlap) — approximate at county boundaries. Market penetration = recorded installations ÷ housing units (U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year, Table B25001); it undercounts where dataset coverage is partial. See methodology.
About this data
Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Tracking the Sun, merged with city permit records, state incentive programs and the USGS U.S. Large-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Database / EIA-860 plant registers, as published October 19, 2026 — PanelCensus refreshes it as each source publishes new records. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: PanelCensus, “Solar installations in San Diego County, California”, https://panelcensus.com/solar/california/san-diego-county (data as of October 19, 2026).