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Over the past few years, North Carolina has become one of the nation’s leading states for solar energy development and investment. Solar industry advocates are fighting to keep it that way despite cuts to renewable energy initiatives at the federal level.
At the end of 2025, the state’s solar sector finds itself facing headwinds from federal policy changes and tariffs, but seeing new growth opportunities in advances in storage technology and rising demand for distributed power sources, especially in rural areas.
The Tar Heel State ranks fifth for total installed solar capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, which values the state’s solar market at $14.4 billion.
Solar installations are split into three categories: residential, commercial, and utility, which refers to larger-scale projects.
Matt Abele, executive director of the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, says much of the state’s solar capacity to date is deployed in utility-scale projects. “But over the past couple of years,” Abele added, “we’ve seen really, really strong growth in the residential solar sector.”
There were about 7,500 solar jobs in North Carolina as of the third quarter in 2025, SEIA found, putting the state at 11th in the country. These workers are employed by 253 solar companies, producing and installing enough solar technology to power about 1.1 million homes across the state.
The sector has grown since 2024, when there were about 7,356 solar jobs at 224 solar companies in the state, according to SEIA.
Over the past year, however, President Donald Trump has sought to undo initiatives related to renewable energy and the environment.
“President Trump is committed to unleashing American energy and preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable energy policies from the Green New Scam,” the White House said in July.
The “Big, Beautiful Bill” signed by Trump in July eliminated a 30% residential solar tax credit for systems installed after 2025, dramatically shortening the timeline provided by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which would have provided the 30% tax credit through 2032.
The sudden change has led to a very busy autumn for the residential side of the industry, but an uncertain future in 2026.
Abele said most solar installers across the state were fully booked up by early September because there was so much demand from new customers wanting to collect the tax credit. He said installing a residential system usually takes between eight to 12 weeks, due to procedural steps like utility interconnection and permitting.
“You’re seeing a mad dash right now to get projects moving,” Abele said, “trying to expedite the deployment of projects that are already in the pipeline and making sure those projects are completed prior to those tax credits expiring.”
At the utility-scale level, tax credits for larger projects remain available through 2027.
Chris Carmody, executive director at Carolinas Clean Energy Business Association, said he tends to describe the industry as “solar plus storage,” because for larger projects, systems using solar are built with storage.
This means utilities are able to deposit the energy and dispatch it when needed — such as at night, during cloudy conditions, or when gas prices are particularly high.
“The arrival of major storage investment is something that has kept solar pretty healthy in North Carolina, despite tough trends from Washington, DC,” Carmody said.
Tax changes aren’t the only challenge facing the solar market. Tariffs on foreign goods imposed by the Trump administration have also led to higher costs for potential solar consumers.
Along with imposing tariffs on different countries that make solar panels — including China, which dominates the global market — the Trump administration also implemented a 50% tariff on imported steel.
“That affects every kind of energy, so solar, gas plants, and gas pipelines,” Carmody said. “It makes anything that requires steel as a building material much, much more expensive.”
North Carolina is already seeing the effects of these changes.
Pine Gate Renewables, a utility-scale solar and energy storage developer based in Asheville, closed its plant and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November. The company laid off more than 78% of its workforce, impacting 223 people in Buncombe County, WLOS reported.
Carmody said many other companies are cutting back their workforce in general due to uncertainty about future federal policy.
“In addition to being really sad for these employees, it’s an indicator that makes people nervous about investing in this environment,” Carmody said.
In August, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency abruptly ended the Solar for All program, a Biden-era initiative awarding $7 billion in grants nationally. Through this, North Carolina would receive $156 million towards projects like rooftop solar and community solar gardens for more than 900,000 lower-income households.
Projects using the program’s funding were set to start in fall 2025.
Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined representatives of 22 other states and the District of Columbia in an October lawsuit against the EPA. The plaintiffs claim the cancellation of the Solar for All program was illegal.
Steve Kalland, executive director of the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center, had been working on developing a contractor registration list for the program.
“We saw this as a potentially really valuable program, and we remain hopeful that things will proceed to a point where it’s allowed to move forward again,” Kalland said. “We’re doing our best to find other ways to help the citizens of North Carolina that are interested in utilizing clean energy resources.”
This includes training people who want to be involved in installation and providing support to businesses looking to use renewable technologies.
Kalland acknowledges the state’s solar industry is facing a period of change, but he remains optimistic. Despite the loss of federal funding, he says, there’s still a growing demand for distributed solar energy resources.
The center has partnered with organizations providing resources to western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, as well as parts of eastern North Carolina that have been affected over the years by natural disasters, leading to similar needs for energy.
“There is a lot of effort right now to try and figure out how we can keep solar as affordable as possible,” he said. “Folks still see the value in these technologies, and we’ll continue to see them move forward.”
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