Solar installations in Santa Cruz County, CA
17,295 recorded installations in Santa Cruz County, California — capacity, prices and the installers doing the work.
At a glance
Santa Cruz County, California has 17,295 recorded solar installations totalling 144.9 MW of capacity — the 28th-highest count among the 58 California counties with records, and under 1% of the state total. That is about 16.2% of the county's 106,635 housing units, against 16.6% statewide. The median installed price is $4.81/W before incentives, about 13% 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 high-wind NOAA storm events — a regional inspection/maintenance signal (proximity, not confirmed damage).
Search every recorded installation in Santa Cruz County by installer, size, date and equipment.
Search sites →Independent check: Stanford's DeepSolar detected about 9,040 solar arrays here from 2018 satellite imagery — our recorded data covers roughly 191% of that. A yardstick, not dated records.
Most active
Top installers in Santa Cruz County
| # | Installer | Installs here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allterra Solar | 3,242 |
| 2 | Tesla | 2,058 |
| 3 | Sunrun | 1,754 |
| 4 | Solar Technologies | 1,202 |
| 5 | Sandbar Solar | 671 |
| 6 | Rgs Energy | 460 |
| 7 | Richard Heath Associates | 439 |
| 8 | Day One Solar | 356 |
| 9 | Semper Solaris | 311 |
| 10 | Sunpower | 298 |
Growth
Installations by year
How does Santa Cruz County compare with the rest of California?
The median recorded system in Santa Cruz County is 5.04 kW, about 15% below the state median of 5.91 kW. 16% of installations here are third-party owned (lease or power-purchase agreement), compared with 29% across California. 4,220 systems (24%) of the county's records include battery storage, against 16% statewide. By share of housing units with a recorded system, Santa Cruz County ranks 31st of 57 California counties with at least 10 installations.
How has solar adoption changed in Santa Cruz County?
The earliest recorded installation in Santa Cruz County dates to 1998. The busiest year on record is 2023, with 1,750 installations. 2025 has 1,277 recorded installations so far. The county's cumulative total rose from 10,099 at the end of 2020 to 17,295 today. Recent years fill in as state programs and permit offices report, so the latest counts are provisional.
Who installs solar in Santa Cruz County?
Allterra Solar has the most recorded installations in Santa Cruz County (3,242, 19% of the county's records). Other active installers here include Tesla, Sunrun and Solar Technologies. Installers based anywhere in California are listed in the state installer directory.
Frequently asked questions
How many homes have solar in Santa Cruz County?
PanelCensus records 17,295 solar installations in Santa Cruz County, California (144.9 MW of capacity) — about 16.2% of the county's 106,635 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 Santa Cruz County?
The median installed price for recorded systems in Santa Cruz County is $4.81/W before incentives; the median system is 5 kW. The California median is $4.26/W.
Who installs solar in Santa Cruz County?
The most active recorded installers in Santa Cruz County are Allterra Solar (3,242), Tesla (2,058) and Sunrun (1,754).
How much of the solar in Santa Cruz County is leased?
2,704 recorded installations (16%) in Santa Cruz County are third-party owned — a lease or power-purchase agreement, compared with 29% across California.
How big is a typical solar system in Santa Cruz County?
The median recorded system in Santa Cruz County is 5 kW, against 5.9 kW for California as a whole.
More solar data near Santa Cruz County
- Solar in California· 2,408,542 installations
- Solar installers in California
- Solar in Santa Barbara County· 20,791 installations
- Solar in Madera County· 20,768 installations
- Solar in Merced County· 19,074 installations
- Solar in San Francisco County· 16,268 installations
- Solar in Kings County· 15,889 installations
- Solar in Sutter County· 11,712 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 29, 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 Santa Cruz County, California”, https://panelcensus.com/solar/california/santa-cruz-county (data as of October 29, 2026).