State solar profile · #45 of 51
Solar in Idaho: slow payback · modest sun
Idaho's 20-yr modeled payback (#50 of 51) is on the slow side of the corpus; rates (10¢/kWh) and 1 programs decide whether sun (4.7 kWh/m²/day) still pays.
- 4.7
- kWh/m²/day irradiance
- 10¢
- avg electricity rate
- 20 yr
- payback (#50)
- 1
- incentive programs
NREL/EIA solar strip
Nameplate ID · Idaho score #45/51
Idaho | 20/100 | 20 yr payback | 502 MW
- BOOK 20/100
- VS-AVG #45/51
- GW 4.7 kWh
- IRR 10c/kWh
- STRIP 20 yr
- FORM860 502 MW
- MW 1 programs
- SCORE near Iowa
Stamps derive from this state's NREL irradiance, EIA Form 860 / Electric Power Monthly nameplate, and DSIRE incentive row (score, rank, sun, rate, payback, capacity, programs, peer), not a quote or site assessment. Modeled figures use a typical 6 kW system; your roof, shading, and utility tariff decide the real return. See our disclaimer. Verify with EIA Form 860 → · Read with methodology → · Net-metering guide → · Personalized estimate → · All state rows → · States ranked → · Payback vs U.S. avg (14.2 yr): 5.8 yr slower
Modeled 6 kW payback · Idaho and nearest peers
Shorter bars = faster simple payback on the NREL/EIA model
- AR
Arkansas
17 years
- KY
Kentucky
18 years
- LA
Louisiana
18 years
- ND
North Dakota
18 years
- WV
West Virginia
19 years
- ID
Idaho
20 years
What this shows Idaho sits at 20 years among nearest payback peers (5.8 yr slower vs the 14.2-yr U.S. average).
Slow-band 25-year ROI · Idaho
$16,500
system cost
$823/yr
modeled savings
20 yr
break-even
+$4,075
25-year net
Slow-band math: $16,500 in vs $823/yr out. Check net-metering (full) and program stack before treating the 25-year net as settled. Run a personalized estimate →
Installed solar capacity in Idaho, 2016–2024
Total solar nameplate capacity in Idaho reported to the EIA, utility-scale and reported distributed systems. The number of reporting facilities grew 6x (2 to 12) between 2016 and 2024, and the average site size fell from 60 MW to 42 MW per site, a shift toward smaller, more distributed installations.
The national sun-and-payback picture for Idaho
Irradiance 4.7 kWh/m²/day (below the 4.8 national mean) vs 20-yr payback (slow band vs 14.2-yr mean). Crosshairs mark those means.
Idaho's payback trails most of the country
Idaho's 20-yr modeled break-even trails 98% of the 51 tracked states.
Idaho vs all states by modeled payback
2-year payback bands across the full 50-state-plus-DC model.
20 Slower than most slower than 96% of 51 states
all tracked states, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainSolarData model, NREL irradiance + EIA rates · 2024
Solar & grid details
- Net-metering policy
- full
- Renewable portfolio standard
- Voluntary (100% by 2045)
- Installed cost / watt
- $2.75/W
- Annual production (6 kW)
- 8,234 kWh
- Installed capacity (EIA 2024)
- 502 MW
Top incentive programs
1 tracked program for Idaho residents
Partial program list. PlainSolarData's list for Idaho is short or incomplete (1 tracked program). Other programs may exist; check DSIRE and your utility. The solar score's incentive component counts the programs tracked here, so this state's score may understate its incentives.
All Idaho solar incentives (1)
More slower-payback peers near Idaho
Two non-geographic peer sets for Idaho: composite score neighbors and payback-year neighbors (deduped so each row links a distinct comparison).
States near this composite solar score
Nearest nationwide matches on the NREL/EIA/DSIRE blend (20/100 here).
Similar modeled payback
Nearest payback-year peers nationwide (20 yr modeled here).
- West Virginia · 19.4 yr payback
- North Dakota · 18.2 yr payback
- Louisiana · 17.8 yr payback
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on published composite scores and modeled 6 kW payback years; rankings above use the same fields but sort the full corpus.
Solar resource from NREL; electricity rates and installed capacity from the U.S. EIA; incentive programs from DSIRE. See our methodology.