Top 7 Best Solar Companies in New York (2024 Reviews)

Tesla’s panels and batteries have some of the most appealing features. Its products interface seamlessly with one another to provide things like StormWatch, which automatically prepares your solar array for blackout conditions.

Tesla outsources its installations, but it’s still a good option for New Yorkers to go solar.

Why We Chose Tesla as the Best Technology

Tesla’s solar panels are sleek, all-black and boast an above-average efficiency rating. Most homeowners care a great deal about the appearance of their panels, and Tesla not only delivers some of the most appealing options but it also offers the Tesla solar roof, a popular panel alternative.

Tesla’s batteries and EV chargers are also quite advanced, giving you the total solar package and letting you customize for your specific needs. The battery can be set to maximize your storage for emergencies or your savings based on your local energy prices, which is great in NY, where electricity prices are more than 1.5x the national average and gas prices are well above the national average as well.

Tesla offers price matching, which makes its panels some of the most affordable options in the industry. Again, this is important in New York, given that the state average cost per watt is significantly higher than it is in most other states.

We also have to say that we love the Tesla Powerwall and believe it holds up to the hype. Solar batteries like this are going to become more and more beneficial as NEM policies change, so it’s great to choose a provider that’s at the forefront of the solar battery industry.

What We Don’t Like

There are two primary downsides to working with Tesla. First, the company uses third-party solar contractors to handle all of its installations, so Tesla is really just a manufacturer. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it does mean that there’s less consistency among its installers, so you might run into poor communication and customer service.

Second, Tesla only installs its own products. The panels and batteries are considered above-average in terms of performance and quality, but still, we prefer when companies offer other brands to appeal to a wider audience.

Read our full review of Tesla for more information.

Solar Products

Tesla only offers its own panel brand, which is really produced by QCells. The Tesla panels have a great efficiency rating of around 21%, which should be plenty to offset the above-average energy bills in New York — around $134.07 per month. The other performance specs are good but not the best in the industry, but again, they should be plenty powerful and durable for the energy needs and weather in New York.

Tesla’s solar roof is the most popular solar roof shingle option in the industry. For New Yorkers looking for a more natural outward appearance, this will likely be the preferred option. However, these come at a cost of around 2–3x the price of solar panels, according to Tesla’s website.

Tesla also installs and offers the following equipment and services alongside its panels and solar roof:

• Tesla Powerwalls
• Tesla EV chargers
• The Tesla solar monitoring app

Financing Options

Like SunPower, Tesla entertains cash purchases, solar loans, solar leases and PPAs. Cash and solar loans are going to be your best options for maximizing your solar savings. Leases and PPAs are more widely accessible, but you should consider that they preclude you from taking the federal tax credit, and they can complicate the sale of your home. They also don’t improve your home value like cash or a loan would. Still, it’s great to have these options alongside price matching, especially as batteries become a necessity and complete systems get more expensive.

Warranty Information

Tesla’s warranty coverage is right in line with the industry average, for the most part. It offers 25 years of coverage for the equipment, which is average, 25 years for the performance, which is slightly above average and 10 years for the labor, which is average.

Click here for a free quote from Tesla.

Trinity Solar has serviced New Yorkers for more than 20 years. Its experience and local expertise makes it a popular option for New Yorkers looking for a more personal touch and better customer service.

The company has a less-than-ideal workmanship warranty, but we feel its experience mostly makes up for the lack of coverage.

Why We Chose Trinity Solar as the Best Regional Provider

Trinity Solar has a ton of localized experience. Its representatives and technicians fully understand the needs of New York homeowners, and they are equipped to help customers navigate the many local solar incentives available in the Empire State. Those include New York Solar Energy System Equipment Credit, the NY-Sun Megawatt Block Incentive, net metering and more. Ultimately, the personalized service you receive could end up saving you money on your solar project.

Trinity Solar donates $100 to the charity of your choice if you sit with a sales rep and get an estimate. It increases that donation to $1,000 if you move forward with the installation. We love to see companies like this giving back to the community, and this helps Trinity make a more significant impact on the solar industry and the state as a whole.

Trinity also offers a nice variety of solar panel brands, which can help customers either maximize their long-term savings or minimize their upfront installation costs. This is important in a high-cost-per-watt area like NY.

What We Don’t Like

In our opinion, the most significant downside to working with Trinity is the limited workmanship warranty, which lasts for just five years. This is half the industry average, and it’s an important thing to consider in a state like New York, where above-average rainfall and some extreme weather can pose a threat to your system if improperly installed.

Trinity has also been known to run into some slow response times after the installation is completed. If you have a warranty claim for an issue that’s causing a drop in production, you could be on the hook for paying those above-average New York energy rates for some time.

Read our full Trinity Solar review for more information.

Solar Products

Trinity Solar mostly installs panels manufactured by QCells. This is a tier-one panel brand that has a maximum efficiency of 21.4%. This is above the industry average and should be plenty to help you offset your high utility bills in New York.

QCells panels also offer excellent quality and durability, but they’re a little more affordable on a per-watt basis than many comparable brands like REC and Silfab. As such, we feel they’re a good option for keeping installation costs low in New York, where they’re normally well above average.

Below is a list of some additional products and services Trinity Solar provides to its customers:

• Tesla Powerwalls
• Generac solar batteries
• Enphase and Tesla solar monitoring apps

Once again, we love seeing options for solar batteries, especially since the future likely holds lower net metering credit rates and lower savings without batteries for New Yorkers.

Financing Options

Trinity Solar accepts cash purchases, loans, leases and PPAs, so it remains one of the most accessible regional solar panel installers in the state. We suggest choosing to pay in cash or with a loan, but a lease might be best for you if you can’t afford to pay cash and won’t qualify for a solar loan. These additional options may become more valuable in the future if incentives change for the worse like they are in other states.

Warranty Information

Trinity Solar includes a 25-year warranty for its equipment and the panel performance, which should help ensure your panels continue to offset your energy bills. The equipment warranty is average, and the performance warranty is slightly longer than average.

Unfortunately, the labor warranty lasts for just five years, which is half the industry average. We’d really love to see longer coverage, especially in an area like New York that is prone to heavy rainfall and some extreme weather.

Click here for a free quote from Trinity Solar.

Momentum Solar is known for its outstanding customer service. It’s one of the only companies that offers a concierge service to all customers, making it super simple to stay in communication with the provider.

Momentum was recently named in a lawsuit for racial discrimination, although the claims haven’t been substantiated.

Why We Chose Momentum Solar as the Best for Customer Service

Momentum Solar is a large company, but it still manages to provide outstanding customer service and communication. All of its customers get access to its concierge service, which means you’ll only ever have a single point of contact at the company. That means it’s easy to get updates on your project, get warranty coverage if you need it and speak to real humans about incentives, permits and more. This is huge in a state with 250 installers and no guarantee that other options are going to serve you well.

Momentum has extensive local experience in New York. They not only understand what New Yorkers need in terms of power production, but they’re also intimately familiar with the incentives available from the state, different municipalities and local electric companies. For example, its techs are more likely to find incentives specific to counties — like Nassau, Queens and Suffolk, as well as upstate counties — and from individual electric companies, like PSEG and National Grid.

That means they can often help you maximize your savings and reduce your system costs — an important perk in a high-cost area like NY, where per watt prices are nearly 10% higher than the national average.

Momentum helps keep solar as accessible as possible, as well, by accepting all payment options and maintaining average pricing.

What We Don’t Like

Momentum was recently accused of racial discrimination and is currently in the middle of a class-action lawsuit related to these allegations. The company recently reached a settlement, although details aren’t available about the case proceedings or the settlement amount. Of course, even being accused of this is a pretty major downside in our book.

Momentum Solar’s line of services is also somewhat limited, as it only installs solar panels and batteries. New Yorkers looking to install EV chargers — which many are, given the high local demand for EVs — or for other energy efficiency upgrades — which are important in areas like NY that have above-average energy prices — will need to turn elsewhere.

Read our full review of Momentum Solar for more information.

Solar Products

Most solar installers have partnerships with specific manufacturers, but Momentum is one of the few that routinely sources products from a wide variety of companies. Brand variety is a great thing to have access to in a place like New York because it lets you customize your system for things like maximum energy production and savings or minimal upfront installation costs.

Importantly, Momentum does note that it only installs tier-one panel brands and monocrystalline panels, which most customers in New York should opt for anyway.

There are two additional products/services that Momentum provides to New Yorkers:

• Enphase solar batteries
• The Enphase solar monitoring app

We’re pleased to see solar batteries available, although we would love to see additional options. That would be helpful if the net metering rate dips in the state.

Financing Options

Momentum Solar accepts cash purchases and provides access to loans, leases and PPAs. Although we don’t recommend leases or PPAs due to the minimal savings and potential complications they cause with selling your home, it’s great to see a variety of payment options to help as many customers as possible convert to renewable energy. They might also be the only options accessible to New Yorkers if batteries start becoming a necessity and drive up installation costs.

Warranty Information

Momentum Solar’s warranty lasts for 25 years and covers the equipment, the panel efficiency and the workmanship. This is outstanding, especially because the production warranty is a bit longer than average, and the labor warranty is 2.5x the industry average.

In New York, where avoiding the well-above-average electricity prices is paramount to maximizing solar savings, we feel that the production warranty is the biggest selling point for Momentum in terms of warranty coverage.

Click here for a free quote from Momentum Solar.

Empower Solar is a small local installer with two decades of experience and a wealth of localized knowledge behind its installations. The company is known for outstanding customer service and for providing high-efficiency systems ideal in NY.

Empower only installs a single brand of panels, but we still feel like it’s the best local company overall.

Why We Chose Empower Solar as the Best Local Installer

Empower Solar is what we believe to be the best local solar company for customers on Long Island. It has been around for decades and has completed thousands of installations throughout Nassau and Suffolk County. As a small company, it’s able to provide industry-leading customer service and communication, so you’ll be in good hands with this provider.

Empower installs high-efficiency Maxeon panels that will provide the best chance of eliminating your above-average energy bills, even as the state transitions from the old net metering policy to the new Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) program.

The representatives are passionate about clean energy and are well-versed in New York’s state and local incentive programs. The reps can help you file for all of the available solar perks in your area to maximize your savings.

Empower also provides outstanding warranty coverage in line with the best of the best in the industry.

What We Don’t Like

There are two downsides to working with Empower, in our opinion. The first is that this is a small company with a limited service area. Its size does let it provide outstanding customer service and one-on-one customer care, but homeowners outside of Long Island won’t be able to move forward with Empower’s services.

Second, Empower only installs SunPower panels. Again, these are the best of the best, but it means customers won’t have panel options better suited for tighter budgets.

Solar Products

Empower only installs Maxeon panels from SunPower. These have the highest efficiency rating available for rooftop solar systems, making them ideal for combatting the high energy bills in New York.

They’re also super durable and should have no issue standing up to the occasional extreme weather on Long Island. They come with excellent warranty coverage, too, so you can rest assured that your solar investment is fully covered when you choose Empower.

Below, we’ll include a quick list of other products and services Empower installs and provides access to:

• Tesla Powerwalls
• EV chargers, which can help take better advantage of your solar output
• MySunPower and Tesla solar monitoring apps, both of which let you monitor system performance and home energy consumption

The inclusion of the Powerwalls is huge, especially as net metering policies change and batteries become more valuable in the state.

Financing Options

Empower accepts cash purchases, loans and leases, so PPAs are the only option you can’t choose with this provider. These three options are the only ones we generally recommend. Paying in cash is the most beneficial for you over time, loans are slightly less beneficial but are more accessible and leases save you the least but are affordable enough for most residents.

Warranty Information

Empower covers all of its installations with a 25-year warranty for the equipment, panel production and workmanship. The efficiency warranty and the workmanship warranty are both above average, and the latter is especially useful in NY to protect your system and home from the above-average rainfall and severe weather.

Click here for a free quote from Empower Solar.

SUNation is a local installer that offers outstanding customer service and localized expertise. It also offers more services than most providers and is one of the best options if you’re looking to improve your home’s energy efficiency and not just install solar panels.

SUNation’s workmanship warranty could be longer, and its service area is quite small.

Why We Chose SUNation as the Best for Service Offerings

SUNation installs quite a few brands of solar panels, and it also provides access to solar batteries and EV chargers, making it an all-inclusive solar provider. It’s also one of the few installers that couples solar services with roof replacement and repair and electrical services, making it a great option for homeowners looking for additional work.

SUNation has been serving Long Island and New York City for two decades, so it has tons of local experience. Its representatives are familiar with local building codes and incentives from Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSEG). Its reps can help you take advantage of local incentives that can potentially save you hundreds of dollars.

SUNation also offers great customer service as a small company. It has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), positive ratings on sites like Google Reviews and has been voted the Best Solar Business of Long Island for 13 years straight.

What We Don’t Like

SUNation only services Long Island and Manhattan, so a good portion of New York just won’t have access to the provider. This is unfortunate, but it’s a downside shared by many smaller providers that use their small size to offer unparalleled customer service.

Additionally, SUNation’s workmanship warranty only lasts for five years, which, in our opinion, is a more significant downside. The average labor warranty lasts for twice that length and is better suited to keep your system safe from the weather in New York. SUNation’s labor coverage especially pales in comparison to the 25 years you’d get from companies like SunPower or ADT Solar.

Solar Products

SUNation installs panels from a few tier-one panel brands, including Solaria, Panasonic and REC. Of these three, Panasonic boasts the highest efficiency rating — 22.2% — and will be the most likely to offset those high energy bills in New York. If you’re looking to keep costs down, though, we’d recommend Solaria, as these are the cheapest of the three.

All of these brands should be sufficient for meeting energy demands in New York and are durable enough to persist and maintain their efficiency through the state’s severe weather and above-average rainfall.

We’ll include a list of additional products and services offered by SUNation below:

• Tesla Powerwalls
• EV charging stations
• The Tesla mobile app
• Roofing replacement and repair
• Electrical contracting

Again, the inclusion of batteries here is great to see to future-proof this provider in the state as net metering policies change.

Financing Options

Much like Empower Solar, SUNation accepts cash purchases, solar loans and solar leases. Customers looking for PPAs will need to choose a different provider, but the three options offered are the only ones we tend to recommend. Overall, we strongly suggest a cash purchase if you can afford one. In the future, when batteries become all but mandatory, a lease might be the only accessible option for some homeowners.

Warranty Information

SUNation’s warranty coverage lasts for 25 years for the equipment, which is in line with the industry average, and 25 years for the performance, which is just above the average. Unfortunately, the workmanship coverage only lasts for five years, which is half the industry average and one of the biggest downsides of working with the company.

Click here for a free quote from SUNation.