Key Takeaways
- You can find solar RFPs in one searchable place on Energy Adepto.
- The main types include utility-scale solar, distributed generation (DG) / community solar, paired solar + storage, all-source, and behind-the-meter solar RFPs.
- Solar RFPs are posted across dozens of fragmented sources: utility portals, independent evaluator or RFP consultant sites, and power industry organization websites.
- Key variables to evaluate quickly in any solar RFP: MW capacity, project type (fixed-tilt vs. tracking), delivery date/COD, technology eligibility, and contract structure.
- Solar RFP volume continues to grow, driven by state renewable portfolio standards, falling costs, and the retirement of coal power plants.
Solar RFPs are formal procurement solicitations issued by utilities, co-operatives, and other load-serving entities seeking competitive bids to supply solar generation capacity to the grid or other electricity loads. Solar is one of the fastest-growing segments of the power sector, and utilities, co-ops, and municipalities across North America are actively issuing solar RFPs to meet capacity needs, reliability mandates, and clean energy goals. For developers, EPCs, and solar suppliers, these solar solicitations represent an enormous pipeline. Finding and tracking them is a real challenge, especially for companies trying to enter or expand in the market. Procurement notices are scattered across utility portals, state regulatory filings, industry listservs, and consultant websites.
A lot of time and money go into participating in high-value solar RFPs. The winning deal could mean a $50+ million-dollar contract (for utility-scale) and a chance to build a long-term relationship for future projects. That is why it is critical to understand all the solar RFPs that are out there and which ones make the most sense to pursue.
In this article, I’ll break down the landscape of solar RFPs: what types exist, what buyers are looking for, and how Energy Adepto helps you discover and track active solar RFPs in one place.
What Are Solar RFPs?
A solar RFP (Request for Proposals) is a formal solicitation issued by a utility, co-operative, municipal utility, or other load-serving entity that is seeking bids from developers or suppliers to provide solar generation capacity. These solar solicitations can range from large utility-scale ground-mount projects to community solar programs, rooftop installations, paired solar-plus-storage systems, and carport arrays.
Solar RFPs vary significantly in scale, siting requirements, and contracting structure. Some seek large-scale grid assets of 100 MW or more. Others are focused on distribution-level, community, or behind-the-meter projects. Understanding this landscape is the first step toward identifying the right solar RFPs for your team.
Types of Solar RFPs
Solar RFPs don’t always look the same. The solicitation type often reflects the buyer’s policy environment, grid needs, and technology flexibility. Here are the main categories you’ll encounter.
Utility-Scale Solar RFPs
These RFPs target large ground-mounted projects, typically 20 MW or larger, that interconnect at the transmission level. Buyers are seeking long-term generation capacity, often under a solar PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) or asset purchase.
Examples
Distributed Generation (DG) / Community Solar RFPs
Many utilities and states issue RFPs for smaller scale solar, distribution-connected projects, often in the 1–20 MW range. Community solar programs allow multiple subscribers like residential and commercial customers to benefit from a shared solar facility without installing panels on their own property.
Examples
Paired Solar + Storage RFPs
A growing number of utilities issue RFPs that explicitly require or prefer co-located battery storage. Bidders can often submit for solar-only or solar-plus-storage in the same solicitation. Adding storage improves dispatchability and makes projects more competitive in markets with high renewable penetration.
Examples
- City of Tallahasee Solar and Energy Storage RFP
- City of Boulder Solar Power and/or Battery Energy Storage Facilities RFP
All-Source RFPs
All-source RFPs are technology-agnostic renewable energy RFPs open to any supply-side resource. Solar is almost always an eligible technology. These often come from larger utilities with significant capacity needs and can represent the largest opportunities in the pipeline.
Examples
- NorthWestern Energy All-Source Capacity RFP 2025
- Texas & New Mexico SPS 2025 All-Source Request for Proposals
Rooftop & Behind-the-Meter Solar RFPs
At the commercial and industrial level, large power users such as government agencies, school districts, hospitals, and military installations procure rooftop or carport solar through formal RFPs. These projects are typically smaller in scale but can be faster to develop given reduced interconnection complexity and scale.
Examples
Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) Solar RFPs
CCAs and municipal utilities are an increasingly important buyer category, issuing their own RFPs independent of the incumbent utility. These organizations often have aggressive clean energy goals and can move faster than large investor-owned utilities in the solar bidding process.
Examples
What Do Buyers Specify in Solar RFPs?
Every solar RFP has a different set of requirements, but the most important variables to evaluate quickly are the following:
- Capacity (MW):The generation output required. Often broken into minimum, preferred, and maximum tiers.
- Project type: Whether the solar solicitation is open to ground-mount, rooftop, floating, agrivoltaic, or carport configurations.
- Technology eligibility:Fixed-tilt vs. single-axis tracking or any domestic content requirements under the IRA.
- Commercial Operating Date (COD) / in-service date:When the resource must be operational and delivering capacity.
- Location / interconnection: (For utility-scale projects) Service territory, ISO/RTO region, and interconnection queue requirements.
- Contract structure:Solar power purchase agreement (PPA), asset purchase (build-transfer), or lease arrangement.
- Storage pairing requirements: Whether co-located storage is optional, preferred, or mandatory.
- Domestic content: Some solar RFPs may require or incentivize modules and structural components manufactured in the U.S.
- Development stage: (For utility-scale projects) Level of site control, permitting, and interconnection progress required at time of bid.
Where Are Solar RFPs Published?
One of the core challenges in tracking public solar opportunities is that there is no single centralized registry. Solar procurement notices are distributed across:
- Individual utility procurement portals and websites
- Independent consultant websites managing the solar solicitation process
- Industry association newsletters and mailing lists
- News outlets covering the clean energy sector
- Federal procurement portals (SAM.gov) for government-linked solar RFPs
Because of this fragmentation, developers who are manually monitoring solar RFPs frequently miss opportunities or discover them too late in the process to prepare a competitive bid. Energy Adepto solves this by aggregating solar RFPs from across all these sources into a single, searchable database.
How Energy Adepto Tracks Solar RFPs
Energy Adepto continuously monitors utility websites, regulatory portals, industry organizations, and consultant postings to identify new RFPs as they are released. Each RFP is reviewed, categorized, and enriched with key metadata so you can filter by technology type, geography, capacity, and due date without reading through dozens of documents.
AI-Powered RFP Summaries
Long solar RFP documents, often 30, 50, or even 100+ pages are automatically summarized using AI to surface the key decision points. Instead of spending hours reading dense procurement language, you get a structured overview of requirements, timeline, and contacts in seconds.
Summaries allow your team to quickly evaluate whether a solar RFP is worth pursuing before spending hours reviewing the full document.
Geographic Coverage
The Energy Adepto database covers RFPs primarily in the U.S. and Canada.
Filtering and Search
Within the platform, you can filter the full RFP database by:
- RFP type (Solar, Solar + Storage, All-Source, Renewable, etc.)
- Organization
- State or region
- Submission deadline
- Active vs. closed solicitations
This means your business development or origination team spends time on qualified solar procurement opportunities rather than data collection.
Why the Solar RFP Market Is Growing
The volume of requests for solar has grown over the past several years, driven by several key changes:
- State Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS): Dozens of states have enacted legislation requiring utilities to source a defined percentage of power from renewables with solar carve-outs in many cases. Targets are by specific deadlines (ex. 2030, 2040, 2050), fueling a steady stream of new solar RFPs.
- IRA investment tax credits (and their accelerated phaseout): The Inflation Reduction Act established the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) at 30% through 2034. However, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act significantly accelerated that timeline. Utility-scale solar projects must now start construction on or before July 4, 2026 or be placed in service before December 31, 2027 to receive the ITC. This hard deadline is driving a surge in solar procurement activity. Utilities and developers are rushing to lock in projects that qualify, which is translating directly into more solar RFPs hitting the market.
- Falling costs: Total install costs for solar have declined by 87% since 2010 while battery storage fell 93%. Firm solar + storage costs dropped from above $100/MWh in 2020 to $54-82/MWh by 2025. Costs are still projected to decline by 30% by 2030.
- Decarbonization goals: Utilities replacing retiring coal plants are increasingly turning to solar often paired with storage as a cost-effective cleaner alternative and issuing solar RFPs to meet that need.
- Corporate and municipal clean energy commitments: Large commercial and industrial buyers, as well as cities and counties, are driving a new wave of solar RFPs through direct PPAs and community solar subscriptions.
Energy Adepto: Your Solar RFP Database
Energy Adepto aggregates active utility-scale solar RFPs, community solar RFPs, solar + storage RFPs, and all-source RFPs into one searchable platform. AI summaries, deadline tracking, and new RFPs are added continuously. Your business development or origination team finds more opportunities worth pursuing.
