Solar installations in San Francisco County, CA
16,268 recorded installations in San Francisco County, California — capacity, prices and the installers doing the work.
At a glance
San Francisco County, California has 16,268 recorded solar installations totalling 221.7 MW of capacity — the 29th-highest count among the 58 California counties with records, and under 1% of the state total. That is about 4.0% of the county's 411,542 housing units, against 16.6% statewide. The median installed price is $5.46/W before incentives, about 28% above 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 0 hail and 1.8 high-wind NOAA storm events — a regional inspection/maintenance signal (proximity, not confirmed damage).
Search every recorded installation in San Francisco County by installer, size, date and equipment.
Search sites →Independent check: Stanford's DeepSolar detected about 7,793 solar arrays here from 2018 satellite imagery — our recorded data covers roughly 209% of that. A yardstick, not dated records.
Most active
Top installers in San Francisco County
| # | Installer | Installs here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luminalt Energy | 2,257 |
| 2 | Tesla | 1,865 |
| 3 | Skytech Solar | 791 |
| 4 | Occidental Power | 742 |
| 5 | Sunpower | 445 |
| 6 | Sungevity | 425 |
| 7 | Sunrun | 361 |
| 8 | Solarunion | 331 |
| 9 | All Bay Solar Construction | 313 |
| 10 | Albion Power Company | 273 |
Growth
Installations by year
How does San Francisco County compare with the rest of California?
The median recorded system in San Francisco County is 4.05 kW, about 31% below the state median of 5.91 kW. 9% of installations here are third-party owned (lease or power-purchase agreement), compared with 29% across California. 1,758 systems (11%) of the county's records include battery storage, against 16% statewide. By share of housing units with a recorded system, San Francisco County ranks 48th of 57 California counties with at least 10 installations.
How has solar adoption changed in San Francisco County?
The earliest recorded installation in San Francisco County dates to 1998. The busiest year on record is 2023, with 1,322 installations. 2025 has 749 recorded installations so far. The county's cumulative total rose from 10,574 at the end of 2020 to 16,268 today. Recent years fill in as state programs and permit offices report, so the latest counts are provisional.
Who installs solar in San Francisco County?
Luminalt Energy has the most recorded installations in San Francisco County (2,257, 14% of the county's records). Other active installers here include Tesla, Skytech Solar and Occidental Power. Installers based anywhere in California are listed in the state installer directory.
Frequently asked questions
How many homes have solar in San Francisco County?
PanelCensus records 16,268 solar installations in San Francisco County, California (221.7 MW of capacity) — about 4.0% of the county's 411,542 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 Francisco County?
The median installed price for recorded systems in San Francisco County is $5.46/W before incentives; the median system is 4.1 kW. The California median is $4.26/W.
Who installs solar in San Francisco County?
The most active recorded installers in San Francisco County are Luminalt Energy (2,257), Tesla (1,865) and Skytech Solar (791).
How much of the solar in San Francisco County is leased?
1,504 recorded installations (9%) in San Francisco 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 Francisco County?
The median recorded system in San Francisco County is 4.1 kW, against 5.9 kW for California as a whole.
More solar data near San Francisco County
- Solar in California· 2,408,542 installations
- Solar installers in California
- Solar in Madera County· 20,768 installations
- Solar in Merced County· 19,074 installations
- Solar in Santa Cruz County· 17,295 installations
- Solar in Kings County· 15,889 installations
- Solar in Sutter County· 11,712 installations
- Solar in Yuba County· 11,439 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 Francisco County, California”, https://panelcensus.com/solar/california/san-francisco-county (data as of October 19, 2026).