State solar profile · #49 of 51
Solar in Indiana: mid payback · average sun
Indiana sits in the middle of the payback pack at 15.8 yr (#35), so irradiance (4.4 kWh/m²/day) and the 1 tracked programs matter more than ranking alone.
- 4.4
- kWh/m²/day irradiance
- 13.8¢
- avg electricity rate
- 15.8 yr
- payback (#35)
- 1
- incentive programs
EIA Form 860 nameplate strip
Nameplate IN · Indiana score #49/51
Indiana | 17/100 | 15.8 yr payback | 2.5 GW
- IRR 17/100
- STRIP #49/51
- FORM860 4.4 kWh
- MW 13.8c/kWh
- SCORE 15.8 yr
- RANK 2.5 GW
- SUN 1 programs
- RATE near Michigan
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 → · ROI calculator guide → · Personalized estimate → · All state rows → · States ranked → · Payback vs U.S. avg (14.2 yr): 1.6 yr slower
Modeled 6 kW payback · Indiana and nearest peers
Shorter bars = faster simple payback on the NREL/EIA model
- DE
Delaware
15 years
- OK
Oklahoma
16 years
- MO
Missouri
16 years
- MS
Mississippi
16 years
- IN
Indiana
16 years
- MN
Minnesota
16 years
What this shows Indiana sits at 15.8 years among nearest payback peers (1.6 yr slower vs the 14.2-yr U.S. average).
Mid-pack 25-year ROI · Indiana
$16,800
system cost
$1,064/yr
modeled savings
15.8 yr
break-even
+$9,800
25-year net
Mid-band math for Indiana: $16,800 system cost vs $1,064/yr savings. Incentive stacking usually decides the edge case. Run a personalized estimate →
Installed solar capacity in Indiana, 2012–2024
Total solar nameplate capacity in Indiana reported to the EIA, utility-scale and reported distributed systems. The number of reporting facilities grew 54x (2 to 108) between 2012 and 2024, and the average site size grew from 2 MW to 23 MW per site, a shift toward larger utility-scale installations.
Indiana's national sun-vs-payback seat
Irradiance 4.4 kWh/m²/day (below the 4.8 national mean) vs 15.8-yr payback (mid band vs 14.2-yr mean). Crosshairs mark those means.
Indiana's payback sits mid-pack nationally
Indiana's 15.8-yr modeled break-even sits near the 14.2-yr national average, banded here in 2-year steps.
Indiana vs all states by modeled payback
2-year payback bands across the full 50-state-plus-DC model.
16 Around the middle faster than 31% 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
- none
- Renewable portfolio standard
- Voluntary (10% by 2025)
- Installed cost / watt
- $2.80/W
- Annual production (6 kW)
- 7,709 kWh
- Installed capacity (EIA 2024)
- 2.5 GW
Top incentive programs
1 tracked program for Indiana residents
Partial program list. PlainSolarData's list for Indiana 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 Indiana solar incentives (1)
Peer states for Indiana, by score and payback
Two non-geographic peer sets for Indiana: composite score neighbors and payback-year neighbors (deduped so each row links a distinct comparison).
Closest match: composite solar score
Nearest nationwide matches on the NREL/EIA/DSIRE blend (17/100 here).
- Michigan · score 18/100
- Ohio · score 18/100
- West Virginia · score 18/100
- Idaho · score 20/100
States near this modeled payback
Nearest payback-year peers nationwide (15.8 yr modeled here).
- Minnesota · 15.9 yr payback
- Mississippi · 15.7 yr payback
- Missouri · 15.6 yr payback
- Oklahoma · 15.5 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.