Finding
Turnkey solar is now sold as solar plus storage plus interconnection, and the interconnection queue sets the schedule
At utility scale, US projects wait years for grid interconnection studies, and most new sunbelt plants pair solar with batteries. At the site scale - depots, factories, data centers - solar arrives as part of a microgrid with storage, a grid connection and often generators.
Turnkey providers take single-point responsibility for design, permitting, procurement, construction, interconnection and O&M. In US residential solar, Sunrun and Tesla lead; Sunnova and SunPower both went bankrupt in 2024-2025 as interest rates rose and California cut export rates. Utility-scale plants are built by EPCs such as SOLV Energy, McCarthy, Mortenson, Primoris and Blattner, and in China and across Belt and Road markets by PowerChina and China Energy Engineering.
The architecture follows the use case: grid-tied systems export surplus, hybrid systems add a battery for backup and time-shifting, DC-coupled systems share one inverter between solar and storage, and off-grid systems form their own grid. Texas leads US utility solar: Invenergy's Samson Solar Energy Center in northeast Texas is among the largest US plants.
Architectures
Four system architectures
| Architecture | How it works | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Grid-tied | Inverter syncs to the grid; surplus exported; shuts down in an outage | Lowest cost where export rates are fair |
| Hybrid, AC-coupled | Battery with its own inverter added on the AC side | Retrofits to existing solar; Powerwall, FranklinWH, Enphase |
| Hybrid, DC-coupled | PV and battery share a DC bus and one inverter | New builds; captures clipped energy; utility solar plus storage |
| Off-grid | Battery-forming inverter, often with a generator | Remote sites, cabins, mines, island grids |
| Microgrid | Solar, storage, generation and loads under one controller; can island | Depots, campuses, factories, military bases |
Scale
Three market scales
| Scale | Size | Typical buyer | Typical providers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential | 5-15 kW | Homeowners, often by lease or PPA | Sunrun, Tesla, Freedom Forever, local installers |
| Commercial and industrial | 100 kW to tens of MW | Factories, depots, warehouses, campuses | Ameresco, Pivot Energy, Tesla, regional EPCs |
| Utility-scale | 100 MW to several GW | Utilities and independent power producers | SOLV Energy, McCarthy, Mortenson, Primoris, PowerChina |
Providers
Turnkey solar providers and EPCs
US residential, commercial and utility-scale providers, plus the Chinese and Indian EPCs that build most plants elsewhere. Active companies first, then planned, closed and bankrupt ones.
Residential
| Company | Offer | HQ | Markets | Focus | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freedom Forever | Residential installation | US | US | Residential installer | active |
| Momentum Solar | Residential installation | US | US | Residential installer | active |
| Palmetto | LightReach lease and PPA platform | US | US | Residential financing platform | active |
| SunPower | Residential solar under the SunPower brand | US | US | Residential installer and dealer network | active: Complete Solaria bought the brand and Blue Raven Solar after the original SunPower's 2024 bankruptcy, then took the SunPower name |
| Sunrun | Lease, PPA and purchase; solar plus storage | US | US | Residential solar plus storage; virtual power plants | active: Largest US residential solar company |
| Tesla Energy | Solar panels, Solar Roof and Powerwall | US | US and international | Residential solar plus storage; virtual power plants | active |
| Trinity Solar | Residential installation | US | US (Northeast) | Residential installer | active |
| Sunnova Energy | Residential lease and PPA | US | US | Residential solar plus storage | bankrupt: Filed Chapter 11 in June 2025 |
Commercial, industrial and community
| Company | Offer | HQ | Markets | Focus | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Altus Power | C&I and community solar owner-operator | US | US | Commercial rooftop and community solar | active: Taken private by TPG in 2025 |
| Ameresco | Design, build, own and operate | US | US, Canada, UK | C&I and federal solar, storage and microgrids | active |
| Nexamp | Community solar | US | US | Community solar and storage | active |
| Pivot Energy | Community solar and C&I | US | US | Community and commercial solar | active |
| Solar Landscape | Rooftop community solar | US | US (New Jersey and Northeast) | Commercial rooftop community solar | active |
| Summit Ridge Energy | Community solar | US | US | Community solar | active |
Utility-scale EPC
| Company | Offer | HQ | Markets | Focus | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blattner | Utility solar, wind and storage EPC | US | US | Utility-scale EPC | active: Quanta Services subsidiary |
| China Energy Engineering | Utility solar EPC | China | China, Belt and Road markets | Utility-scale EPC | active: State-owned |
| Larsen & Toubro | Utility solar EPC | India | India, Middle East | Utility-scale EPC | active |
| McCarthy Building Companies | Utility solar and storage EPC | US | US | Utility-scale EPC | active |
| Mortenson | Utility solar, wind and storage EPC | US | US | Utility-scale EPC | active |
| PowerChina | Utility solar EPC | China | China, Belt and Road markets | Utility-scale EPC | active: State-owned |
| Primoris Services | Utility solar and storage EPC | US | US | Utility-scale EPC | active |
| RES | Utility solar, wind and storage EPC and development | UK | US, UK, Europe, Australia | Utility-scale EPC and developer | active |
| Rosendin | Utility solar and storage EPC | US | US | Utility-scale EPC | active |
| Signal Energy | Utility solar EPC | US | US | Utility-scale EPC | active |
| SOLV Energy | Utility solar and storage EPC and O&M | US | US | Utility-scale EPC | active |
| Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy | Utility solar EPC | India | India, Middle East, Africa, Australia | Utility-scale EPC | active |
Sources
Sources and scope
- Scope
- Solar Power Systems
- Sources
- EIA planned capacity additions; company filings; AustinIO
- Updated
- October 2026