Solar Builder unveils 2025 Project of the Year winners

By Brad Kramer December 9, 2025

The 2025 Solar Builder Project of the Year Award winners have been announced! Congrats to the Northern Cheyenne Buffalo Facility, Gilman Brothers Co., Willcox Greenhouse, Double Black Diamond Solar, and the Orcas Center Microgrid. Editors’ Choice Awards were given to Active Church, Camp Elena, Casa PerlArte Resiliency Hub, Department of Energy Rooftop Solar, and Women’s Bean Project.

Please go to the official Projects of the Year site to read through all the winners and to watch video interviews with key stakeholders. Congrats to all of this year’s winners and thanks to everyone who nominated a project, voted and/or shared it on social media. And thanks to Aurora Solar for sponsoring this year’s awards.

What are the Project of the Year Award?

Solar Builder’s annual Project of the Year awards are a celebration of the solar industry. Every year, we seek to showcase the hard work of construction teams and installers, the creativity of engineers, the leadership of developers, and the dedication of so many local businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits to renewable energy.

The Project of the Year awards are also a reminder of progress. This year’s winners exemplify how communities connect to solar — not just for energy, but for education and social impact. These projects show how sound engineering can overcome challenging terrain. They also represent a clear transition away from carbon-intensive energy sources toward a cleaner tomorrow.

Solar Builder Awards in 2025

Each year, your dedicated editors select a field of nominees from a heap of submissions. Our reader base of solar pros vote for the projects that impress them the most, and then we celebrate them in the pages you’re about to read. The winners are broken into five categories based on capacity size, plus this year we added a special category for microgrids —

We also have our Editors’ Choice awards, shining a spotlight on those projects we deemed too cool to leave in the shadows.

Hear from the 2025 Project of the Year Award winners

Under 100 kW | Northern Cheyenne Buffalo Facility

Developer/EPC/Installer: Freedom Forever | Modules: Jinko Solar | Inverters: Jinko Solar | Storage: Jinko Solar | Mounting/Racking: Nuance Energy Osprey Racking

101 kW to 1 MW | Gilman Brothers Co.

Developer/EPC/Installer: Budderfly | Modules: Silfab | Inverters: SolarEdge | Mounting/Racking: Unirac

1 MW to 10 MW | Willcox Greenhouse

Over 10 MW | Double Black Diamond Solar

Developer: Swift Current Energy | EPCs: McCarthy Building Co. | Installers: Operating Engineers Local 12, Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, Southern California District Council of Laborers and affiliated LiUNA Local 220, Electricians of IBEW Locas 428 and 357, Operating Engineers L:ocal 12, IEW Local 47, Ironworkers of Locals 416 and 433 | Modules: First Solar | Inverters: Sungrow | Mounting/Racking: Nextracker

Microgrid | Orcas Center