Powering the Future of Renewable Energy Growth: How Indra Energy Customers Outpace National Renewable Trends

A couple of years ago, America’s energy grid crossed a historic threshold: solar power contributed most of the new electricity-generating capacity for the first time ever. By the end of 2024, 66% of the new capacity added nationwide came from solar panels.⁵ That was more than gas, wind, and every other source combined.

This quiet milestone signaled a true investment in renewable energy. U.S. investment in infrastructure, consumer adoption of home solar technologies, and corporate stewardship all played key roles in driving this growth. It also signaled a quieter milestone, but one that affects most homeowners today: accessibility. While generating your own power can be ideal, it’s not practical or possible for many residents. Neither renters nor landlords have an incentive to install solar panels, because neither experiences the full benefit. Some homeowners don’t have ideal climate conditions for solar panels, while others can’t afford the upfront equipment and installation costs, or find the available payment plans unfavorable.

There are more than 133 million households in the U.S. With just 4.2 million of them sporting rooftop solar installations,² the vast majority of American homeowners can’t generate their own power on-site. Home-generated solar power is designed so that surplus energy can be given back to the grid, making that renewable energy accessible to everyone — not just the household that installed it.

Solar power’s contribution is expected to keep growing. Fifty gigawatts of power — what the U.S. solar industry added in 2024 — can support 8.5 million American homes for an entire year.¹ Industry analysts project total U.S. solar capacity will more than triple by 2035, reaching 739 gigawatts of installed capacity.⁵ (For context, solar capacity before 2008 amounted to less than a single gigawatt,³ increasing 17,900% in a decade and a half.)

Three forces have accelerated this transformation:

• First, the economics of renewable energy are now the cheapest form of electricity generation across most of the country.
• Second, corporate demand in data centers, manufacturing, and retail operations has driven demand and long-term contracts.
• Finally, federal incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) unlocked billions of dollars in investment before Congress scaled back residential solar tax credits in 2026.

Renewable Energy at Home

Energy generation at home has largely relied on solar panels. Adoption of residential thermal and wind technologies will require yet-to-be-realized advances, leaving passive participation the main alternative to home-installed solar panels. The U.S. grid system allows excess renewable energy generated by commercial and residential sources to be shared and distributed. When excess energy is sent into the grid, it becomes indistinguishable from energy generated from non-renewable sources. RECs represent the environmental attributes of electricity generated from renewable sources, and are used to track and substantiate renewable energy use claims.⁴ Certified by independent agencies as coming from qualifying renewable sources, purchasing RECs ensures that energy is directly supporting the renewable energy shared in the power grid.

Luckily for residents in 18 states across the U.S., they have the power to choose their energy plan and switch energy suppliers. Companies like Indra Energy use the purchase of RECs to offer energy plans that are 100% renewable* and directly supported by renewable energy generation. When residents aren’t willing to or are incapable of installing solar panels, they can instead directly support the generation of renewable energy. Indra Energy offers this option in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. Additionally, Indra Energy offers natural gas plans that are 100% backed by carbon offsets* for natural gas customers in Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Customer Growth: Outpacing the Market

Looking at Indra Energy’s customer base can provide insight into solar adoption rates among those supporting renewable energy production, rather than creating it. Overall, passive adoption remains a key ally in the financing of new projects and the actual use of the renewable energy those projects generate. Customers purchasing REC-based renewable energy are one of the forms of passive renewable energy adoption and provide insight into where use may be trending.

Overall, Indra Energy’s electricity customer base grew 73% from 2023 to 2024, adding over 30,000 customers across seven markets. The increase in Indra customers was fueled by consumer adoption of deregulated energy choice but drove increased use of renewable energy, since all residential plans come entirely from REC-backed energy.

Indra Energy’s 2024 growth was concentrated in a handful of standout markets. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia were the highest-growth markets, together seeing a combined 78% increase in new customer growth. At the same time, residential solar panel installations across the U.S. declined by 2%.⁵

That contrast points to a broader trend: as rooftop solar becomes less accessible or affordable for many homeowners, REC-backed energy plans offer a way to keep participating in renewable energy without the upfront investment.

The Usage Gap: A Different Customer

Indra’s residential energy plans are all REC-backed plans, ensuring that energy is purchased from qualifying renewable sources. In markets with natural gas, Indra purchases carbon offsets to match its customers’ use, creating a carbon-neutral energy strategy. This product positioning has made the energy plans popular with more sustainability-conscious consumers.

In total, Indra Energy purchased more than 1.162 million renewable energy credits for its customers in 2024, a 53% increase over the year prior. This 1.1 million MWh of renewable electricity is enough to power approximately 95,000 average American homes for one year.⁶ It’s a meaningful contribution, although modest against national electricity consumption, which exceeds 4 trillion kWh annually.⁶

Using EPA equivalency calculations, this renewable electricity use avoided an estimated 96,000 metric tons of CO2, roughly similar to removing 20,000 gasoline-powered vehicles from the road for one year or the carbon sequestered by approximately 108,000 acres of U.S. forest. Since Indra Energy’s carbon footprint also extends to natural gas, 100% of customers’ natural gas use is paired with carbon offsets, extending their footprint even further. With 39,000 metric tons of offset, savings in 2024 amounted to a grand total of 135,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent sequestered.⁶

Powering the Grid, One Choice at a Time

The rapid growth of solar and renewable capacity has fundamentally changed what it means to participate in the energy transition. While rooftop solar remains out of reach for many households, the expansion of renewable energy certificates has created a practical, immediate pathway for consumers to support clean energy at scale. Indra Energy customers demonstrate that renewable participation no longer depends on home ownership, geography, or upfront investment: it depends on choice. As national renewable capacity accelerates, REC-backed energy plans allow households to directly support the projects powering that growth.

Indra Energy’s customer trends suggest that renewable energy adoption is not only growing but maturing. Customers are not just switching energy suppliers: they’re adopting more energy-efficient habits and aligning their consumption with sustainability values. That combination highlights a distinct customer profile — one that actively engages with its energy use while strengthening the market for clean energy generation. This behavior reinforces the idea that passive renewable adoption can drive meaningful environmental outcomes when scaled across thousands of households.

The data also point to an important market signal: as electricity prices rise, consumers become more engaged, more informed, and more willing to explore alternatives. In deregulated markets, this translates into greater participation in renewable energy plans and faster adoption than national averages. Indra Energy’s growth in its highest-performing markets underscores how consumer choice can accelerate renewable energy use precisely where pressure on household budgets is greatest.

As the U.S. solar industry continues its rapid expansion, the role of everyday consumers will become increasingly central to sustaining that momentum. Whether through rooftop panels or REC-backed energy plans, the future of renewable energy is being built not only by utilities and policymakers but by millions of individual decisions. Indra Energy’s customers show that choosing renewable power today is not just an environmental statement: it’s a scalable, accessible way to help shape the next phase of America’s energy future.

*If you enroll on a 100% Renewable Energy plan with Indra Energy as a residential and/or small commercial customer, 100% of your electricity usage will be paired with RECs generated from renewable or alternative energy sources in the United States, which may include wind, solar, hydro, or any other zero-emission sources that have been qualified as such. The amount of RECs that exceed any mandatory renewable portfolio or clean standard requirements may be generated from renewable or alternative energy sources located anywhere in the United States. Indra will retire RECs in a regional generation attribute system — such as PJM GATs for customers in NJ, PA, MD, VA, IL, DC, and DE — or via ISO New England for customers in MA; the RECs are not generated in the state of Illinois. If you select a natural gas product, 100% of your natural gas usage will be matched with carbon offsets.

Data Sources

1. U.S. Energy Information Administration. (n.d.). Electricity data by state. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/
2. U.S. Energy Information Administration. (n.d.). Homes and buildings in the West and Northeast have the largest share of small-scale solar. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=54379
3. U.S. Energy Information Administration. (n.d.). U.S. renewable electricity generation has doubled since 2008. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=38752
4. United States Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). https://www.epa.gov/green-power-markets/renewable-energy-certificates-recs
5. Solar Energy Industries Association. Solar Market Insight Report, 2024 Year in Review. https://seia.org/research-resources/us-solar-market-insight/
6. United States Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator. https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator