Solar Energy: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Sunrun led the Solar Energy index in September 2026 with 71.1% valid recommendation coverage, holding a 12.2-percentage-point lead over second-place Palmetto Solar at 58.9%. Sunrun's current coverage stands below its 76.8% baseline recorded in July 2026, a decline of 5.7 points that stands beyond normal variation across the three-month series, even though Sunrun's coverage recovered from its August low of 65.6%.

Sunnova posted the largest coverage increase across the baseline-to-current series, rising to 5.3% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026 from 2.5% in July 2026, a gain of 2.8 points that stands beyond normal variation. Blue Raven Solar recorded the largest coverage decline over the same period, falling to 46.2% from 55.9%, a drop of 9.7 points.

The three-month series showed a mixed profile. Six brands declined from their July baselines by more than normal variation, while Sunnova was the only brand to rise beyond normal variation over the same period. Palmetto Solar, Tesla Solar, Tesla Wall Connector (Tesla, Inc.), and Trinity Solar held within normal variation across the full three-month period, though Palmetto Solar's single-month rise from August to September (49.6% to 58.9%) itself exceeded normal variation.

The benchmark produced 491 qualified observations in September 2026 from 800 prompt-surface observations collected, following the same qualification process used in July 2026, when 488 qualified observations were produced.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six families were represented in September 2026. In August 2026, the intermediate month, the recommendation-shaped answer share dipped to 56.8% before recovering in September.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Solar Energy

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection.

For full details on the qualification process, see the AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned at least once.
• Valid recommendation coverage: Share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist. This is the primary benchmark metric.
• Top-three rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand appears among the top three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand is the first recommended option.
• Net sentiment: Balance of positive versus negative mentions, ranging from 0 to 1.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Tesla Solar and Tesla Wall Connector (Tesla, Inc.) require separate handling due to a brand-label change that took effect in August 2026. In July 2026 the tracked entity was Tesla Wall Connector (Tesla, Inc.) at 38.9% coverage; in August 2026 the tracked entity was listed as Tesla Solar at 33.2%; and in September 2026 the series returned to Tesla Wall Connector (Tesla, Inc.) at 35.4%. The July and September figures for Tesla Wall Connector (Tesla, Inc.) and the August figure for Tesla Solar should be read with this labeling change in mind.

Largest Increase: Sunnova

Sunnova rose to 5.3% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, up from 2.5% in July 2026, an increase of 2.8 points that stands beyond normal variation. The brand improved in each of the two months since July. Its presence rate held nearly flat at 6.3% in September 2026 versus 6.2% in July, meaning the coverage gain came from a larger share of its mentions converting into valid recommendations. Net sentiment improved to 0.8 in September 2026 from 0.5 in July 2026. Sunnova's rank-one rate remained at 0.0% in both months, so the increase is concentrated in secondary recommendation positions and is not yet a trend across all placement tiers.

Largest Decline: Blue Raven Solar

Blue Raven Solar recorded the largest coverage decline across the baseline-to-current series, falling to 46.2% valid recommendation coverage from 55.9% in July 2026, a drop of 9.7 points that stands beyond normal variation. Its presence rate also fell, to 49.9% in September 2026 from 59.4% in July 2026. Top-three placement declined to 24.6% from 42.0% in July, and rank-one placement declined to 3.3% from 9.4% in July. Blue Raven Solar's August coverage was 43.2%, meaning September's 46.2% represents a 3.0-point single-month rise that stayed within normal variation.

Category Leader: Sunrun

Sunrun remained the coverage leader in September 2026 at 71.1% valid recommendation coverage, down from 76.8% in July 2026. The decline of 5.7 points stands beyond normal variation, yet Sunrun recovered from its August low of 65.6%. Presence held near-saturation at 91.6% in September 2026, down modestly from 92.4% in July 2026. The leader's top-three rate fell to 51.9% in September 2026 from 64.1% in July, a decline of 12.2 points, while its rank-one rate eased to 36.9% from 39.3% over the same period. Sunrun continued to lead every placement tier in the current month.

Beyond Blue Raven Solar, other brands that declined beyond normal variation across the same baseline-to-current series included SunPower (down 9.2 points, from 27.9% to 18.7%), Momentum Solar (down 8.8 points, from 46.7% to 37.9%), Elevation (down 6.3 points, from 10.4% to 4.1%), and Freedom Forever (down 5.4 points, from 16.8% to 11.4%). Several of these brands posted significant single-month gains from August to September: Momentum Solar rose 6.3 points from its August level of 31.6%, and SunPower rose 5.0 points from its August level of 13.7%. Trinity Solar and Elevation moved within normal variation from August to September. Palmetto Solar's month-over-month rise, from 49.6% in August to 58.9% in September, was itself a significant single-month move, even though its coverage changed little from the July baseline (58.0% to 58.9%).

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Placement among the top three and at rank one reveals how often a recommended brand appears in the most visible positions. Among the leading brands in September 2026, Sunrun held the strongest placement profile by a wide margin.

Sunrun held a top-three rate of 51.9% and a rank-one rate of 36.9% in September 2026, meaning it was the first recommendation in a large share of its top-three appearances. Palmetto Solar and Blue Raven Solar both had top-three rates of 24.6% or higher but rank-one rates below 8%, showing that comparable coverage levels can still hide very different first-position rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in July, August, and September 2026 fell into the Brand Recommendation class of discovery.

The current public series measures brand-recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

• Market share or sales attribution
• Every possible AI response across all surfaces and configurations
• Organic-search ranking positions
• Social mention volume or sentiment from social platforms
• Private or sponsored channels and custom assistant configurations
• Causality from a metric movement alone; the benchmark records change, not the reasons for change

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how prominently brands appear in AI-generated answers across the six canonical AI surface families: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. Each monthly measurement is built from qualified prompt-level observations that retain the full detail of the AI response for transparency and audit.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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