A survey from Aurora Solar showed increased interest in rooftop solar and growing concerns about electric grid outages.
Homeowners increasingly view rooftop solar as a “smart financial move,” said a report from Aurora Solar. This year 76% of respondents said they believe rooftop solar is a good investment, up from 51% of respondents asked the same question last year.
Aurora Solar, a solar installer workflow management software provider, reported this as part of its third annual solar snapshot survey results, which includes data from over 12.5 million Aurora Solar projects, plus surveys of over 1,000 solar professionals, 1,000 homeowners and 500 commercial property owners.
“There’s no question, 2024 was a difficult year for solar. But this year’s Aurora Solar Snapshot shows us just how resilient the industry is,” said Chris Hopper, chief executive officer and co-founder, Aurora Solar.
Distributed solar had a challenging year in 2024, with residential installations declining about 31% after nearly a decade of double-digit annual growth. Despite the down year, Aurora said the market is “shifting, not stalling.”
Some of the market shifts include a move toward including battery energy storage, offering more value to homeowners, including backup power during outages. Data from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory showed that in late 2024 in California, batteries were included in 60% of residential solar projects, up from only 10% in 2023.
This shift may prove valuable, as 55% of respondents said the power grid is becoming “less reliable.” In several major rooftop solar markets, like in California’s NEM 3.0 billing structure, battery storage represents more than just backup power, and presents an opportunity for a better return on investment. Aurora said 69% of homeowners said they were interested in battery storage to lower their energy bills, surpassing outage resilience (56%) for the first time.
“Faced with high interest rates, policy changes, and other economic headwinds, we found bipartisan support for solar among homeowners and business owners, more financing options focusing on third-party ownership, and increased interest in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) benefits,” said Hopper.
Across all surveyed homeowners, utility bill savings was the leading motivation for installing solar, with 93% of respondents listing this reason. This was followed by backup power/ energy independence (72%), reducing environmental impact (51%) and taking advantage of tax incentives (46%).
Solar tax incentives had strong bipartisan support among respondents, with only 12% of Democrats and 17% of Republicans saying they wanted repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes a tax credit for 30% of the installed system cost.
The survey also found an increased generational shift toward solar energy adoption. Over 90% of surveyed Gen Z respondents said they view solar as a good investment for homeowners in 2025, followed by millennials (83%), gen X (76%) and baby boomers (67%).
Solar had strong bipartisan support among respondents. Over 80% of respondents that identified as Democrats and 74% that identified as Republicans said they believe solar is a good investment.
Aurora also noted a shift in financing packages as high interest rates and loan terms have made it more difficult to offer savings. More than half of surveyed installers (51%) said that their customers now prefer third-party ownership products like leases and power purchase agreements over cash and loan financing. These types of arrangements typically offer no upfront costs, predictable bill payments and easier qualifications to get approved.
The survey also noted a decline in mean residential solar system size, falling to about 7.6 kW in 2024, or declining about 9% year-over-year. Price-per-watt also fell about 7% year-over-year to $3.74 per W, said Aurora.
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