Which commercial solar installers and EPC contractors do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? (October 2026)
When US businesses ask AI engines which commercial solar installer or EPC contractor to hire, there is no clear leader. Solar Landscape was named most often, in 12 of 55 answers (21.8%), followed by SOLV Energy (8) and Standard Solar (8). 53 of the 55 answers named at least one firm, and 169 different firms were named in total, 103 of them only once.
By Frederik Jakobsen, founder of Danish Lead Co and SourceRank AI. Measured 11 October 2026, published October 2026.
The firms AI named most often
Share of all 55 answers that named the firm as a provider, and how many answers on each engine named it. An answer counts once per firm however often it repeats the name.
96.4%
Answers that named at least one provider firm: 53 of 55. The rest gave criteria or advice and no names.
169 firms
Distinct firms named across all 55 answers. 103 of them were named in only one answer.
8.4%
Share of all 334 firm mentions taken by the three most named firms, Solar Landscape, SOLV Energy and Standard Solar.
| # | Firm | Answers naming it | Engines | ChatGPT of 12 | Gemini of 12 | Copilot of 8 | AI Mode of 12 | AI Overviews of 11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Solar Landscape | 12 of 55 21.8% | 5 of 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | SOLV Energy | 8 of 55 14.5% | 5 of 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | Standard Solar | 8 of 55 14.5% | 3 of 5 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | Freedom Solar Power | 8 of 55 14.5% | 4 of 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | NextEra Energy Resources | 7 of 55 12.7% | 3 of 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 6 | SunPower | 7 of 55 12.7% | 4 of 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | Teichert Solar | 6 of 55 10.9% | 3 of 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MARS Energy Group | 6 of 55 10.9% | 2 of 5 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Greenskies Clean Focus | 6 of 55 10.9% | 3 of 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Ameresco | 5 of 55 9.1% | 3 of 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | GreenSpark Solar | 5 of 55 9.1% | 3 of 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | DCE Services | 5 of 55 9.1% | 3 of 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Mortenson | 5 of 55 9.1% | 4 of 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | Cypress Creek Renewables | 5 of 55 9.1% | 2 of 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 15 | TENCO SOLAR | 5 of 55 9.1% | 5 of 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Top 15 of 169 firms. Engine columns show answers naming the firm out of that engine's measured answers. Firms with the same count are listed in the order the data was read.
What the answers show
- +Solar Landscape was the most named firm, in 12 of 55 answers, 21.8%, the lowest share for a leading firm in all 22 categories we measured. SOLV Energy, Standard Solar and Freedom Solar Power followed with 8 each.
- +The three most named took 8.4% of all firm mentions, the lowest concentration of all 22 categories. 169 firms were named, 103 of them only once.
- +Location drives the answer. The three questions that named a state or region (California, Texas, the Northeast) produced 61 firms, 42 of which were named for no other question.
- +The engines did not agree: only 4 of 12 questions had two engines name the same firm first. Separately, 4 of Copilot's 12 answers came back written for a buyer outside the US (India, Brazil, Thailand, Colombia), a side effect of the third-party service we query Copilot through, and are excluded.
What each engine named
The most named firm per engine. Each engine had a different leader.
| Engine | Answers | Named a provider | Distinct firms | Most named firm on that engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 67 | SOLV Energy, Standard Solar, Ameresco and 2 more tied (3 of 12) |
| Gemini | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 63 | Standard Solar, MARS Energy Group, Greenskies Clean Focus and 1 more tied (4 of 12) |
| Microsoft Copilot | 8 | 8 of 8 100.0% | 27 | Solar Landscape, Teichert Solar, DCE Services (3 of 8) |
| Google AI Mode | 12 | 11 of 12 91.7% | 41 | NextEra Energy Resources (5 of 12) |
| Google AI Overviews | 11 | 10 of 11 90.9% | 56 | Freedom Solar Power, Paradise Energy Solutions (3 of 11) |
First-pick agreement: in 4 of the 12 questions where at least two engines named a firm, two or more engines named the same firm first. Solar Landscape was named by 5 of 5 engines. Google showed no AI Overview for 1 of the 12 questions; those are not counted as answers.
The sources behind the recommendations
Most cited domains in the 31 answers that showed a source list. The trade publication solarpowerworldonline.com leads.
| # | Cited domain | Kind | Answers citing it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | solarpowerworldonline.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 12 of 31 38.7% |
| 2 | siteline.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 9 of 31 29.0% |
| 3 | energysage.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 5 of 31 16.1% |
| 4 | solarendowment.org | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 4 of 31 12.9% |
| 5 | sunergysolutionsllc.com | A named firm's own website | 4 of 31 12.9% |
| 6 | gridalternatives.org | A named firm's own website | 3 of 31 9.7% |
| 7 | topsolarservices.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 2 of 31 6.5% |
| 8 | thisoldhouse.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 2 of 31 6.5% |
| 9 | blackridgeresearch.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 2 of 31 6.5% |
| 10 | solarsavingshub.org | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 2 of 31 6.5% |
| 11 | rayzongreen.com | A named firm's own website | 2 of 31 6.5% |
| 12 | need.solar | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 2 of 31 6.5% |
Out of the 31 answers that carried a source list (139 distinct domains). Sources per engine: ChatGPT 0 of 12, Gemini 10 of 12, Copilot 8 of 8, AI Mode 2 of 12, AI Overviews 11 of 11.
| Source kind | Answers citing at least one |
|---|---|
| Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 29 of 31 93.5% |
| A named firm's own website | 25 of 31 80.6% |
| Social and video | 2 of 31 6.5% |
| Community forum | 2 of 31 6.5% |
| Directory, review or analyst site | 1 of 31 3.2% |
An answer can cite several kinds, so the rows do not sum to the total. "A named firm's own website" means the domain matches the name of a firm named in this category.
How a firm in this category gets named
Being named depends on what the engines read. In this category, of the 31 answers that showed their sources, 25 cited a named firm's own website and 1 cited a directory, review or analyst site. solarpowerworldonline.com was the most cited domain, in 12 answers. For an installer the realistic target is the regional and project-type question (a state, a rooftop size, a ground mount, storage), with a page per region and project type and accurate coverage in the trade lists the engines read. This is the work SourceRank AI does, described on the services page. The free site readiness check shows whether your site is structurally ready to be cited; it checks your site, it does not measure answers like the ones on this page. To see where your own firm stands in these answers, book a call.
Exactly what was measured
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Date | 11 October 2026, one run |
| Buyer questions | 12, each phrased as a buyer asking for a provider, varied by size, budget, situation and switching. Full list below |
| Answer engines | 5: ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews |
| Engine cells | 60. One question on one engine |
| Answers measured | 55 of 60. The denominator for every share on this page. 1 Google search showed no AI Overview. 4 Copilot answers were written for a buyer outside the US, a side effect of the third-party service we query Copilot through, and are excluded |
| Market | United States, English. Google AI Mode and AI Overviews were queried with a US location. ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot were not given a location, the same as in our client measurement runs; Copilot answers that assumed a buyer abroad are excluded |
| Sources | Cited sources come from Gemini, Copilot, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews. ChatGPT's answers in this run came back without a machine-readable source list, so ChatGPT is not in the source tables |
| Firm extraction | One language model call per answer listed the firms the answer named as providers, excluding directories, publications, citation labels and tools. Names were normalised and aliases merged. A hand check of 20 answers across the study is reported on the hub page |
| Not measured | Location personalisation for the chat engines, logged-in or personalised sessions, run-to-run variation (this is a single run, and the same question asked again can return different firms), and model versions, which change without notice |
All 12 buyer questions
- Best commercial solar installers in the United States
- Which commercial solar EPC contractor should a manufacturer use for a 1 MW rooftop system?
- Top commercial and industrial solar companies for a warehouse rooftop
- Recommend a commercial solar installer in California for a mid-size business
- Best commercial solar companies that offer power purchase agreements with no upfront cost
- Which solar EPC firms are best for a 5 MW ground-mount project?
- Top commercial solar installers in Texas
- Best solar company for a school district or nonprofit
- Our previous solar installer went out of business. Which commercial solar company should we use for the next phase?
- Which commercial solar installers also install battery storage for businesses?
- Best commercial solar installers in the Northeast for a manufacturing plant
- Most reliable commercial solar contractors for a multi-site retail company
Cite this research
Journalists, analysts and writers are welcome to quote, chart and republish the figures on this page. Please credit SourceRank AI and link to this page as the source. For the underlying data, a comment from Frederik Jakobsen or a category we have not covered, see the press page.
Suggested citation
SourceRank AI (2026). Which commercial solar installers and EPC contractors do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? Measured 11 October 2026. https://sourcerankai.com/research/who-ai-recommends/commercial-solar-installers/
Link to copy
<a href="https://sourcerankai.com/research/who-ai-recommends/commercial-solar-installers/">Which commercial solar installers and EPC contractors do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? (SourceRank AI, October 2026)</a>Where to go next
All 22 category studies
Who AI recommends across 22 B2B categories, with the cross-category findings and the full method.
What AI engines cite by industry
The source mix behind AI answers in ten industries, from our September 2026 measurement runs.
AEO for this industry
What we do for firms in this space, and the questions their buyers ask AI.
Common questions
Which commercial solar installers and EPC contractors does ChatGPT recommend?
In this October 2026 run ChatGPT named SOLV Energy and Standard Solar most often, in 3 of its 12 answers each. Across all five engines the most named were Solar Landscape (12 of 55 answers), SOLV Energy (8) and Standard Solar (8).
Do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend the same commercial solar installers and EPC contractors?
Partly. Solar Landscape was named by 5 of the 5 engines, and in 4 of the 12 questions at least two engines named the same firm first. Below the top few names the lists diverge: 103 of the 169 firms were named in only one answer.
How was this measured?
12 buyer questions asking for commercial solar installers and EPC contractors were put once to ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews on 11 October 2026, from a US English context. 55 answers were measured, and the firms each answer named as providers were extracted and counted once per answer. It is a single run, and the same question asked again can return different firms.