Solar by state
Solar in Minnesota, by the numbers
Utilities and their rates, adoption, ten years of growth, batteries, ownership, state rules and installer licensing in Minnesota, from federal 2024 data.
Minnesota in brief
0.88% of Minnesota homes had rooftop solar in 2024, the 15th-lowest of 51 (3.55% nationally). Power cost 15.45¢/kWh, below the national 16.48¢, and the average system was 8.4 kW. Northern States Power Company - Minnesota serves 47.7% of homes.
Where does Minnesota stand out?
The four measures, beyond price and adoption, on which Minnesota sits furthest from the middle of the ranking.
Minnesota solar in numbers, 2024
Every Minnesota figure next to the national one, with its place in the ranking (highest first, out of the jurisdictions reporting it).
| Measure | Minnesota | United States | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes with a metered rooftop system | 0.88% | 3.55% | 15th-lowest of 51 |
| Rooftop systems counted | 22,621 | 5,077,543 | 25th-lowest of 51 |
| Average system size | 8.4 kW | 6.74 kW | 9th-highest of 51 |
| Residential price | 15.45¢/kWh | 16.48¢/kWh | 20th-highest of 51 |
| Average monthly bill | $110.06 | $142.26 | 8th-lowest of 51 |
| Use per home | 8,548 kWh/yr | 10,359 kWh/yr | 18th-lowest of 51 |
| Systems with a battery | 0.39% | 5.86% | 12th-lowest of 47 |
| Leased or on a PPA | Not reported | 29.1% | No figure |
| Growth in systems, five years | 32.0% a year | — | 14th-highest of 51 |
| Minutes without power per customer | 222 | 297 (median state) | 20th-lowest of 51 |
| Homes on a time-varying rate | 2.6% | 11.1% | 21st-highest of 51 |
| Installed rooftop capacity | 190.0 MW | 34,226 MW | — |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861, 2024 final release, retrieved 2 September 2026. The Minnesota ratios and ranks are HyreSolar calculations from EIA inputs.
Which utility serves Minnesota, and what does it charge?
The 8 largest utilities selling to Minnesota homes, by residential customers, with the price full-service customers paid and how many run net-metered solar.
| Utility | Type | Homes served | Price per kWh | Use per home, monthly | Net-metered systems |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern States Power Company - Minnesota | Investor-owned | 1,230,057 (47.7%) | 16.98¢ | 588 kWh | 13,411 (1.1%) |
| Connexus Energy | Co-op | 134,095 (5.2%) | 13.66¢ | 772 kWh | 1,280 (0.95%) |
| ALLETE | Investor-owned | 125,896 (4.9%) | 15.66¢ | 651 kWh | 1,014 (0.81%) |
| Dakota Electric Association | Co-op | 108,097 (4.2%) | 14.00¢ | 716 kWh | 1,548 (1.4%) |
| East Central Energy | Co-op | 55,250 (2.1%) | 16.89¢ | 820 kWh | 615 (1.1%) |
| Rochester Public Utilities | Municipal | 54,943 (2.1%) | 17.91¢ | 560 kWh | 618 (1.1%) |
| Wright-Hennepin Co-op Electric Association | Co-op | 53,714 (2.1%) | 14.59¢ | 897 kWh | 330 (0.61%) |
| Otter Tail Power Company | Investor-owned | 50,118 (1.9%) | 11.33¢ | 842 kWh | 71 (0.14%) |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 2024, Sales to Ultimate Customers and Net Metering, utility level, retrieved 5 October 2026. Shares are of 2,581,180 Minnesota residential accounts. Each Minnesota price is residential revenue divided by sales for full-service customers (HyreSolar calculation); a wires company’s price is its default-service price.
What do the Minnesota utility figures mean for a solar quote?
EIA-861 lists 46 utilities serving homes in Minnesota in 2024, across 2,581,180 residential accounts. The three largest, Northern States Power Company - Minnesota, Connexus Energy and ALLETE, served 57.7% of those homes. By ownership: investor-owned utilities 54.5%, electric cooperatives 28.3%, small utilities EIA counts as a group 9.7% and municipal utilities 7.5%.
All 2,581,180 Minnesota residential accounts bought energy from the utility that delivers it; EIA counted none on a competitive supplier. So a Minnesota utility’s own tariff sets both the price you avoid and the credit for what you export.
Northern States Power Company - Minnesota, the largest, served 1,230,057 Minnesota homes (47.7%). Its full-service residential customers paid 16.98¢ per kWh, above the Minnesota average of 15.45¢, and used 588 kWh a month on average. 13,411 of its customers ran net-metered rooftop solar, 1.1% of its homes against 0.88% statewide.
Among the 37 Minnesota utilities with at least 5,000 residential customers and a full-service price, the price ran from 9.70¢ at City of Marshall to 17.91¢ at Rochester Public Utilities.
At the Minnesota average of 8,548 kWh a year, that 8.21¢ gap is worth about $702 a year (our arithmetic), so the same system offsets more money in one territory than the other.
Price a quote on your own utility’s rate, not the 15.45¢ Minnesota average.
Rooftop solar is concentrated: Northern States Power Company - Minnesota alone accounts for 13,411 net-metered residential systems, about 59% of the 22,621 counted in Minnesota, and 43 Minnesota utilities reported any at all. The highest adoption among the larger utilities was at Dakota Electric Association, where 1.4% of homes had a system.
What does power cost in Minnesota, and why does it matter?
Residential electricity in Minnesota averaged 15.45¢ per kilowatt-hour in 2024, the 20th-highest of 51 and below the national 16.48¢. The price sits above the middle of the 51, which tilts the arithmetic toward using production on site rather than exporting it.
The average Minnesota household bill was $110.06 a month ($1,321 a year), the 8th-lowest of 51, against $142.26 nationally. That $1,321 is the ceiling on what solar could save a typical Minnesota home, before fixed monthly charges.
Only 2.6% of Minnesota homes were on a time-varying rate in 2024 (11.1% nationally), so a flat rate is the likely starting point. 87.5% of Minnesota residential meters were smart meters (83.8% nationally), and a time-varying rate needs one. How time-of-use changes solar.
How many Minnesota homes have solar?
Minnesota had 22,621 rooftop systems on net metering in 2024, across 2,581,180 residential accounts: 0.88% of homes, the 15th-lowest of 51. Minnesota is a thin market. Fewer companies can mean slower quotes and less to compare, so ask each one how many local systems it has installed.
The Minnesota market counted 3,861 more systems in 2024 than in 2023 and has grown 32.0% a year over five years, the 14th-highest of 51. Where growth has turned nationally.
How has Minnesota solar changed since 2014?
Minnesota counted 1,156 net-metered rooftop systems in 2014 and 22,621 in 2024, 19.6 times as many. The share of homes with one moved from 0.05% to 0.88%. The biggest one-year addition came in 2023, with 5,244 more systems than the year before.
| Year | Rooftop systems | Share of homes | Average size | Residential price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 1,156 | 0.05% | 6.0 kW | 12.01¢ |
| 2016 | 2,330 | 0.10% | 7.8 kW | 12.67¢ |
| 2018 | 4,156 | 0.17% | 7.8 kW | 13.14¢ |
| 2020 | 7,108 | 0.29% | 8.2 kW | 13.17¢ |
| 2022 | 13,516 | 0.54% | 8.4 kW | 14.25¢ |
| 2024 | 22,621 | 0.88% | 8.4 kW | 15.45¢ |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 annual files 2014–2024, net-metered residential systems, retrieved 2 September 2026. Minnesota shares and sizes are HyreSolar calculations.
What does the Minnesota trend mean for a savings estimate?
Over the same years the Minnesota residential price went from 12.01¢ to 15.45¢ per kWh, up 29%, and the average system from 6.0 kW to 8.4 kW. A rate that has risen that far makes a 2024 bill a conservative base for a Minnesota savings estimate only if the trend continues, which nobody can promise.
How big is a typical Minnesota system?
The average Minnesota system was 8.4 kW in 2024, the 9th-highest of 51, against 6.74 kW nationally. Minnesota homes used 8,548 kilowatt-hours a year each, the 18th-lowest of 51.
A Minnesota home using 8,548 kWh is an average, not a design input: size from your own twelve months of bills and usable roof with cost by system size and the system size calculator.
Who owns the systems in Minnesota?
Form EIA-861 reports no third-party-ownership split for the 22,621 systems counted in Minnesota in 2024, so we publish none rather than infer one.
Ask any Minnesota company in writing whether it is selling you the system or a lease or power purchase agreement; the owner of a Minnesota system is the one who claims any tax credit.
Do Minnesota homes add batteries?
In Minnesota, 0.39% of solar systems were paired with a battery in 2024 (88 systems), the 12th-lowest of 47. Minnesota’s share is well under half the national 5.86%.
On reliability, the average Minnesota customer went 222 minutes without power in 2024 counting major storms, and 92 minutes without them. The median state saw 297. Outages in every state.
Whether a battery pays in Minnesota turns on your utility’s export credit and your own outage history: what a home battery does.
Which Minnesota solar laws have we read?
Minnesota statutes we read ourselves. Any rule not listed here is one we have not read, not one that does not exist.
How long you have to cancel a contract
3 business days, from the day the sale occurs. This is the general home solicitation rule, which reaches solar sales.
Minn. Stat. § 325G.07. Read at source September 2, 2026. Solar sales rules by state
Property tax on the added value
Exempt as personal property; systems at or below 1 MW are also exempt from the production tax.
Minn. Stat. § 272.02 subd. 24. Read at source September 2, 2026. Property tax exemptions
What an HOA can and cannot block
The Minnesota access statute tests an association’s restriction two ways. On cost: for PV, a restriction that adds a flat $1,000. On output: more than a 10% decrease in projected generation. The association has at least 60 days and must answer in writing, or the application is deemed approved.
Minn. Stat. §§ 500.216 and 500.30. Read at source September 2, 2026. Solar access rights by state
How do you check a solar company’s license in Minnesota?
We checked 55 Minnesota solar companies from June to August 2026 against the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Construction Codes and Licensing Division. 12.7% of those did not hold a current license when checked (6 expired, 1 revoked).
Ask which license a company holds, then confirm the number with the issuing authority yourself.
These counts describe the companies we checked on those dates, not every company in Minnesota, and a license current then may have lapsed since. How to verify a solar license.
Which states are closest to Minnesota on adoption?
The six jurisdictions nearest to Minnesota’s 0.88% share of homes with rooftop solar.
Where do the Minnesota numbers come from?
The Minnesota figures are HyreSolar calculations from the Form EIA-861 annual files: 22,621 net-metered residential systems counted against 2,581,180 residential accounts, sizes as means, and 46 utility-level rows for the utility table, matched to net-metering records by EIA utility number.
The method and limits cover all 51; the Minnesota row is in the data as a CSV.
No Minnesota figure here is an estimate for one home: your roof, usage, utility tariff and tax position decide that.
Your inquiry
Tell us about your home
Nothing goes to a solar professional unless you agree.
Free, with no obligation: a person reads it and gets back to you. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a quote.
Get Solar Options
If you have done your research and want to speak with a solar professional, HyreSolar can help you explore available options.
Questions
How many homes in Minnesota have solar?
What size solar system is typical in Minnesota?
Do Minnesota homeowners add batteries to solar?
Is Minnesota a good state for solar?
Which utility serves the most homes in Minnesota?
Can I cancel a solar contract in Minnesota?
Written and audited by
HyreSolar Research
Primary-source research, data analysis and fact checking
We are a research desk, not a sales floor. We read the statute, the tariff, the code section, the federal filing or the manufacturer data sheet ourselves, and we publish the figure with the document it came from and the date we retrieved it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify. That rule has cost us whole sections, and it is why the rest can be checked.
- 160
- primary sources read and cited
- 228
- figures with a retrieval date
- 115
- federal and state government sources
- 66
- researched pages published
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. Statutes from the legislature’s own publishing system, federal data from the agency that collects it, code text from the adopted edition, manufacturer claims from the data sheet. We do not cite an article that cites a source; we go and read the source.
- Every figure carries its provenance. A named document and the date we retrieved it, so you can check it and so you know how old it is. Retrieval dates are not decoration: an EIA rate from May is a different fact from an EIA rate from August.
- We publish what we could not verify. Every research page carries a section naming the things we tried to establish and could not, and why. A paywalled standard, a state website that refused the request, a manufacturer that publishes no figure at all.
- We separate measurement from modeling from our own reasoning, and label which is which on the page. A laboratory measurement, an assumption inside a modeling tool and our own inference are three different kinds of claim and they are never presented as one.
- We do not sell solar, and we take no payment for placement, ranking or a favorable mention. Nobody buys a position on this site.
Data as of EIA-861 2024 final release. Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.