Solar installations in Essex County, MA
167 recorded installations in Essex County, Massachusetts — capacity, prices and the installers doing the work.
At a glance
Essex County, Massachusetts has 167 recorded solar installations totalling 121.4 MW of capacity — the 6th-highest count among the 14 Massachusetts counties with records, and under 1% of the state total. That is about 0.05% of the county's 328,460 housing units, against 5.3% statewide. The median installed price is $3.46/W before incentives, about 17% below the Massachusetts median of $4.17/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 2.9 hail and 1.5 high-wind NOAA storm events — a regional inspection/maintenance signal (proximity, not confirmed damage).
Search every recorded installation in Essex County by installer, size, date and equipment.
Search sites →Independent check:Stanford's DeepSolar detected about 13,425 solar arrays here from 2018 satellite imagery — our recorded data covers roughly 1% of that (this county is under-reported in public program data). A yardstick, not dated records.
Most active
Top installers in Essex County
| # | Installer | Installs here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trinity Solar | 44 |
| 2 | Vision Solar | 29 |
| 3 | Momentum Solar | 19 |
| 4 | Sunrun | 14 |
| 5 | Gehrlicher Solar America | 4 |
| 6 | Solect Energy Development, LLC | 3 |
| 7 | Ace Residential Solar | 3 |
| 8 | Cs Energy | 2 |
| 9 | Invaleon Technologies | 2 |
| 10 | Mampw Energy | 2 |
Growth
Installations by year
How does Essex County compare with the rest of Massachusetts?
The median recorded system in Essex County is 10.05 kW, about 34% above the state median of 7.48 kW. 63% of installations here are third-party owned (lease or power-purchase agreement), compared with 47% across Massachusetts. 1 system (under 1%) of the county's records include battery storage, against 4% statewide. By share of housing units with a recorded system, Essex County ranks 11th of 13 Massachusetts counties with at least 10 installations.
How has solar adoption changed in Essex County?
The earliest recorded installation in Essex County dates to 2010. The busiest year on record is 2021, with 55 installations. 2025 has 1 recorded installation so far. The county's cumulative total rose from 51 at the end of 2020 to 167 today. Recent years fill in as state programs and permit offices report, so the latest counts are provisional.
Who installs solar in Essex County?
Trinity Solar has the most recorded installations in Essex County (44, 26% of the county's records). Other active installers here include Vision Solar, Momentum Solar and Sunrun. Installers based anywhere in Massachusetts are listed in the state installer directory.
Frequently asked questions
How many homes have solar in Essex County?
PanelCensus records 167 solar installations in Essex County, Massachusetts (121.4 MW of capacity) — about 0.05% of the county's 328,460 housing units (U.S. Census ACS). Coverage depends on Massachusetts's public reporting, so the true total is likely higher.
How much does solar cost in Essex County?
The median installed price for recorded systems in Essex County is $3.46/W before incentives; the median system is 10.1 kW. The Massachusetts median is $4.17/W.
Who installs solar in Essex County?
The most active recorded installers in Essex County are Trinity Solar (44), Vision Solar (29) and Momentum Solar (19).
How much of the solar in Essex County is leased?
105 recorded installations (63%) in Essex County are third-party owned — a lease or power-purchase agreement, compared with 47% across Massachusetts.
How big is a typical solar system in Essex County?
The median recorded system in Essex County is 10.1 kW, against 7.5 kW for Massachusetts as a whole.
More solar data near Essex County
- Solar in Massachusetts· 159,700 installations
- Solar installers in Massachusetts
- Solar in Worcester County· 552 installations
- Solar in Plymouth County· 244 installations
- Solar in Bristol County· 195 installations
- Solar in Hampden County· 147 installations
- Solar in Norfolk County· 139 installations
- Solar in Berkshire County· 104 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 10, 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 Essex County, Massachusetts”, https://panelcensus.com/solar/massachusetts/essex-county (data as of October 10, 2026).