A new report by Generation180 finds that nearly one in seven American students in the K-12 program attends a school that uses solar energy.

The company’s sixth edition of ‘Brighter Future: The State of Solar & Battery Storage in U.S. K-12 Schools‘ paints a positive forecast for the use of solar and energy storage in schools, officials say. In total, those schools sport 2.4 GW of solar, enough to power more than 450,000 homes. Perhaps most encouragingly the study finds that the solar generation capacity of American K-12 schools has tripled since 2016.

“This report shows that school solar is no longer concentrated in just a few places,” says Tish Tablan, lead report author and senior director of Generation180’s Electrify Our Schools program. “Urban, suburban, and rural school districts across the country are using clean energy to reduce costs, improve facilities, and prepare students for the economy of the future.”

The Charlottesville, Virginia-based non-profit also found that in addition to energy benefits, schools around the U.S. can potentially save millions in electricity costs by utilizing solar. Roanoke City Public Schools, one of the districts highlighted in the new report, will save an estimated $46.5 million in energy costs over the next 35 years.

Storage on the rise in schools

This year’s report also included the company’s first report on energy storage numbers in relation to in-school solar.

As of August 2026, just 155 U.S. K-12 schools employ a form of battery storage on their grounds, accounting for 0.1% of American institutions. However, this only includes batter systems installed since 2016, and including the number at all reflects a growing trend in the energy sector.

The number of schools with battery storage capabilities has grown sevenfold over the past decade, with California taking pole position once again, boasting 109 schools with battery storage — about 70% of the nationwide tally.

About one-third of schools across the U.S. are designated as FEMA emergency shelters, which makes backup electricity options more important than ever. As inclement weather events continue to spike, pairing school solar with storage can help schools around the country perform better than ever when needed most, Tablan says.

“We have a huge opportunity to turn schools into clean-powered resilience hubs, community spaces that can keep the lights on, provide shelter, and support families when the grid goes down,” she adds.

By the numbers

Currently, about 9% of K-12 schools across the U.S. have some sort of solar energy system. That translates to 10,840 schools across the country with an average system size of 225 kW, totaling 2.4 GW of in-school solar in the U.S.

The leader — as is the case with most American solar endeavors — is California, sporting about 895.3 MW of school-related solar installations between 2,921 schools. Behind the Golden State sit New Jersey, New York, Arizona, and Massachusetts, with a combined 748 MW between them to round out the top five.

At the bottom is Alaska with 33 kW installed, and South Dakota, which has no school solar systems installed as of August 2026.

California also sits atop the list in terms of five-year cumulative capacity growth from 2021 to 2025, adding 273.7 MW of solar during that time. New Jersey and New York once again sit behind the west coast solar giant, with newcomers Illinois and Virginia also joining the top five.

On the more human side of things, over seven million students attend a solar-powered K-12 school as of 2026, the report finds.

“Schools are at the heart of our communities,” says Stuart Gardner, executive director of Generation180. “Every community has a school and today more than 10,000 schools have already shown what is possible, but the vast majority of America’s schools are still missing out. Every school should have the opportunity to benefit from affordable clean energy and greater resilience.”

Tags: batteries, BESS, commercial, commercial and industrial, Generation180, schools, storage