Solar installations in Portage County, WI
436 recorded installations in Portage County, Wisconsin — capacity, prices and the installers doing the work.
At a glance
Portage County, Wisconsin has 436 recorded solar installations totalling 3.1 MW of capacity — the 10th-highest count among the 72 Wisconsin counties with records, and 2% of the state total. That is about 1.4% of the county's 31,496 housing units, against 0.83% statewide. The median installed price is $3.70/W before incentives, roughly in line with the Wisconsin median of $3.52/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 3.9 hail and 3.1 high-wind NOAA storm events — a regional inspection/maintenance signal (proximity, not confirmed damage).
Search every recorded installation in Portage County by installer, size, date and equipment.
Search sites →Independent check:Stanford's DeepSolar detected about 199 solar arrays here from 2018 satellite imagery — our recorded data covers roughly 219% of that. A yardstick, not dated records.
Most active
Top installers in Portage County
| # | Installer | Installs here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Wind Renewable Energy | 240 |
| 2 | Photovoltaic System | 57 |
| 3 | Olson Solar Energy | 19 |
| 4 | Full Spectrum Solar | 14 |
| 5 | Everlight Solar | 12 |
| 6 | Able Energy | 5 |
| 7 | Atlas Electric Control | 3 |
| 8 | All Energy Solar | 2 |
| 9 | Point Heating Cooling | 2 |
| 10 | Eagle Point Solar | 2 |
Growth
Installations by year
How does Portage County compare with the rest of Wisconsin?
The median recorded system in Portage County is 5.76 kW, about 22% below the state median of 7.4 kW. By share of housing units with a recorded system, Portage County ranks 12th of 70 Wisconsin counties with at least 10 installations.
How has solar adoption changed in Portage County?
The earliest recorded installation in Portage County dates to 2002. The busiest year on record is 2024, with 44 installations. 2025 has 36 recorded installations so far. The county's cumulative total rose from 255 at the end of 2020 to 436 today. Recent years fill in as state programs and permit offices report, so the latest counts are provisional.
Who installs solar in Portage County?
North Wind Renewable Energy has the most recorded installations in Portage County (240, 55% of the county's records). Other active installers here include Photovoltaic System, Olson Solar Energy and Full Spectrum Solar. Installers based anywhere in Wisconsin are listed in the state installer directory.
Frequently asked questions
How many homes have solar in Portage County?
PanelCensus records 436 solar installations in Portage County, Wisconsin (3.1 MW of capacity) — about 1.4% of the county's 31,496 housing units (U.S. Census ACS). Coverage depends on Wisconsin's public reporting, so the true total is likely higher.
How much does solar cost in Portage County?
The median installed price for recorded systems in Portage County is $3.70/W before incentives; the median system is 5.8 kW. The Wisconsin median is $3.52/W.
Who installs solar in Portage County?
The most active recorded installers in Portage County are North Wind Renewable Energy (240), Photovoltaic System (57) and Olson Solar Energy (19).
How big is a typical solar system in Portage County?
The median recorded system in Portage County is 5.8 kW, against 7.4 kW for Wisconsin as a whole.
More solar data near Portage County
- Solar in Wisconsin· 22,775 installations
- Solar installers in Wisconsin
- Solar in Eau Claire County· 548 installations
- Solar in Brown County· 459 installations
- Solar in Vernon County· 450 installations
- Solar in Racine County· 404 installations
- Solar in Outagamie County· 389 installations
- Solar in Jefferson County· 346 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 Portage County, Wisconsin”, https://panelcensus.com/solar/wisconsin/portage-county (data as of October 10, 2026).