North Carolina solar in numbers, 2024
Every figure below is computed by us from the Form EIA-861 annual files. Ranks are out of 51 jurisdictions, highest first.
| Measure | North Carolina | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Households with a metered rooftop system57,393 systems across 5,067,762 residential accounts | 1.13% | 30th of 51 |
| Average system sizeNational average 6.74 kW | 7.39 kW | 26th of 51 |
| Residential priceDerived average across the state, not a tariff | 14.13¢/kWh | 34th of 51 |
| Consumption per accountWhat a system here is typically sized against | 12,184 kWh/yr | 16th of 51 |
| Systems with a battery248 paired systems | 0.43% | 35th of 51 |
| Third-party ownedLeased or under a power purchase agreement | 0.2% | 31st of 51 |
| Five-year growth6,421 systems added in 2024 | 31.7%/yr | 15th of 51 |
| Installed capacityResidential net-metered capacity | 424.4 MW | — |
What the adoption figure means
A middling market — neither early nor late. Expect a reasonable choice of installers without the depth of the coastal markets.
Residential electricity in North Carolina averaged 14.13¢ per kilowatt-hour in 2024, 34th of 51 and below the national average of 16.48¢. Prices are close to the national middle, so the export rate your particular utility offers usually decides the outcome rather than the retail rate. Prices and adoption across all 51.
System size and consumption
The average North Carolina system was 7.39 kW in 2024, ranking 26th of 51. Households consumed an average of 12,184 kilowatt-hours a year (16th of 51) — the figure a system here is sized against.
Size your own system from your own kilowatt-hours, not from this average — how to do that.
Who owns the systems
0.2% of North Carolina systems were third-party owned in 2024 — leased or under a power purchase agreement rather than owned by the householder. That is 31st of 51.
Ownership is genuinely mixed here — you are likely to be shown both purchase and third-party structures. Who claims the federal credit · ownership across all 51.
Battery attachment
0.43% of North Carolina solar systems were paired with a battery in 2024, 35th of 51 — 248 paired systems.
Attachment is below average, which usually means exports still pay well enough that storing surplus is not the better trade. Attachment across all 51 · does a battery belong in your project.
Where the market is going
North Carolina added 6,421 systems in 2024 and has grown at 31.7% a year over five years, 15th of 51. Where growth has turned.
Solar companies and licensing in North Carolina
We checked 50 North Carolina solar companies against the state licence register. 2.0% did not hold a current licence at the time of checking — 1 expired.
How to verify a licence before you sign.
Method
Figures are computed by HyreSolar from the Form EIA-861 2024 annual files — net-metered residential systems only, penetration counted against residential accounts, sizes as means. EIA publishes the inputs, not these ratios. Full methodology and the underlying CSV.
None of these figures is an estimate for your property. What to work through before you talk to anyone.
Common questions
How many homes in North Carolina have solar?
57,393 residential net-metered systems were recorded in North Carolina in 2024, against 5,067,762 residential electricity accounts — 1.13% of households, 30th of 51 jurisdictions. That is a HyreSolar calculation from Form EIA-861.
What size solar system is typical in North Carolina?
The average net-metered residential system in North Carolina was 7.39 kW in 2024, against a national average of 6.74 kW. Your own system should be sized from twelve months of your kilowatt-hours and your usable roof, not from a state average.
Do people in North Carolina add batteries to solar?
0.43% of North Carolina systems were paired with storage in 2024, 35th of 51. Battery attachment tracks outage frequency and export rules more than it tracks sunshine.
Is North Carolina a good state for solar?
On the measures we can compute: residential electricity averages 14.13¢/kWh (34th of 51), households use 12,184 kWh a year (16th of 51), and 1.13% have installed a system (30th of 51). Retail price and export rules move the answer far more than sunshine does, and both are set by your specific utility rather than by the state.
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861, 2024 final release, retrieved 2 September 2026. Figures marked as a HyreSolar calculation are derived by us and are not official EIA statistics.