What does an Electrician (LED & Solar) earn?

Federal figures put this role between $42,640 and $108,510 a year, with a national median of $63,190. The federal occupation for this role is Electricians (SOC 47-2111), May 2025.

What credentials should an Electrician (LED & Solar) have?

The credentials that command a premium in this seat are State License. Requirements vary by state and by what the job actually involves, so treat these as what moves an offer rather than a legal minimum.

LED & SOLAR - ROLE PROFILE

Electrician (LED & Solar)

Federal figures put this role between $42,640 and $108,510 a year, with a national median of $63,190.

The role

What the job actually is.

Performs the licensed electrical work on lighting retrofit and solar projects: service and panel work, conductor sizing and runs, inverter and disconnect installation, interconnection, controls and sensors on lighting jobs, and the commissioning and utility sign-off at the end.

Pay

What this role pays.

We have not closed enough LED & solar searches to publish a band of our own for this seat, so the figures above are the federal 10th to 90th percentile spread rather than a My Trade Talent band. They are national and not adjusted for experience or region.

The federal occupation for this role is Electricians (SOC 47-2111), May 2025. Nationally it reports a median of $63,190 , with the middle of the market between $42,640 and $108,510.

Where it pays most.

Electricians across the metros we cover, May 2025. BLS publishes a median for 100 of them and withholds the rest, where the local sample was too small to be reliable.

Highest-paying metros - Electricians
Metro	Median	Employed there
Portland	$105,090	7,340
Chicago	$102,350	17,720
Seattle	$101,780	9,750
San Francisco	$92,830	9,060
San Jose	$91,030	5,480
Detroit	$81,990	11,210
Minneapolis	$81,890	8,810
Boston	$79,910	13,410
McAllen	$46,930	670
El Paso	$48,140	1,380
Little Rock	$48,200	1,870

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. The last three rows are the lowest-paying metros in the same set. Headcount is metro-wide across every industry, not this trade alone.

Credentials

Credentials that move an offer.

State License

Licensing is a state question, not a national one. The LED & Solar hiring page carries the state-by-state position, and every market page names the authority for that state.

Screening

What separates a strong candidate.

Everyone who applies for this seat will claim the experience. These are the things that distinguish the people who have it, and the questions that find out.

What to look for

Electrical licence current for the jurisdiction, stated without hedging
Has done an interconnection and dealt with the utility, not just the inverter
Lighting controls described as commissioning work rather than device installation

Questions that find out

Walk me through an interconnection from application to permission to operate. A strong answer Describes the real sequence: the utility application with the single line and equipment specifications, their study and the interconnection agreement, the building permit and plan review, construction, the jurisdiction's inspection and sign-off, then the utility's witness test or meter change, and only then permission to operate. Knows the system cannot be energised before that and what the penalties are. Knows where the time actually goes in their utility.
How do you size conductors and overcurrent protection on a PV circuit? A strong answer Works from the module and inverter ratings through the code's required factors rather than from the nameplate alone: the continuous current adjustment for PV source circuits, then temperature and conduit fill derating for a conductor on a hot roof, and checks the result against the overcurrent device and the terminal temperature rating. Checks voltage drop separately. Knows rooftop ambient adders are the step most often skipped.
A networked lighting control system is not holding its schedule. How do you commission it? A strong answer Separates the layers before touching settings: is it the time source, the network, the controller, or the individual devices? Checks the clock and whether it has a reliable time reference and a daylight saving rule, whether devices are actually joined and reporting, and whether somebody has overridden locally. Commissions by zone with the owner watching, documents the programming, and hands over how to change it without calling them.
How do you size and terminate at the point of interconnection? A strong answer Knows the rules for connecting a supply-side or load-side tap and the limits that apply to a busbar with two sources, and checks the existing panel's rating and the main breaker against them before promising anything. Terminates with listed lugs or a tap device rated for the conductors and the fault current, labels it as the code requires, and torques to the manufacturer's value. Documents what the existing equipment actually is.
What is your approach to rapid shutdown compliance? A strong answer Knows what the adopted code edition in that jurisdiction requires - voltage limits inside and outside the array boundary within the required time - and that meeting it usually means module-level equipment. Installs a listed system as listed rather than mixing components, puts the initiation device and labelling where the fire service will find them, and tests it by initiating and measuring rather than assuming.
How do you troubleshoot a string producing below expectation? A strong answer Compares like with like first - the same string against its neighbours at the same moment - then looks at the pattern: an even shortfall across all strings suggests the inverter, irradiance or soiling, while one string points at a module, a connection or shading. Measures open-circuit voltage and operating current, checks connectors, and inspects for soiling, shading and visible module damage. Uses the commissioning baseline readings.
How do you coordinate a shutdown to tie into a live service? A strong answer Plans it with the building: who it affects, what cannot lose power, how long it will be, and what the backup is - and gets it agreed in writing with a date and a window. Verifies isolation and locks out rather than trusting a label, tests dead before working, and has the parts and people ready so the outage is as short as promised. Says they have refused to do a live tie-in that somebody wanted to avoid a shutdown.
How do you handle an inspection comment on labelling and signage? A strong answer Treats labelling as a code requirement rather than cosmetic: the placards and warnings required at the disconnects, the array, the point of interconnection and the service, with the wording, durability and location the code specifies. Fixes it and asks the inspector what they want where, because local practice varies. Checks the labelling before calling the inspection rather than failing on it, since it is the easiest thing to get right.
How do you perform a load calculation before adding a system to an existing service? A strong answer Uses the method the code allows - a standard calculation or, on an existing building, measured maximum demand over a qualifying period where that is permitted - and documents which. Checks the existing service and panel ratings against both the load and the new source, and the available fault current. Says what happens when the calculation shows the service is inadequate: a service upgrade, a different point of connection, or a smaller system.
What is your approach to conduit, raceway and wire management on a roof? A strong answer Routes to keep conductors off the roof surface and out of water, supports at the required intervals with listed supports that do not damage the membrane, and allows for thermal expansion on long runs. Minimises penetrations and flashes every one to the roofer's detail. Derates for the rooftop ambient. Keeps runs out of the way of service access and future roof work, and labels the raceway.
How do you handle an inverter fault code you have not seen? A strong answer Reads the manufacturer's documentation rather than guessing or clearing it, and records the conditions at the time - irradiance, temperature, which string, what else was happening. Calls technical support with the serial and the log. Checks the obvious external causes first: grid voltage or frequency excursions, a ground fault, arc fault detection, or insulation resistance. Does not repeatedly reset a fault that is protecting something.
What is your process for commissioning and system verification? A strong answer Runs a defined sequence and records it: continuity and polarity on every circuit, insulation resistance, open-circuit voltage per string compared across strings, grounding verified, rapid shutdown tested, then energise and record operating current and power against expectation for the conditions. Hands over the readings as a baseline. Says that a system commissioned without recorded numbers cannot be troubleshot properly later.
How do you handle a lighting retrofit where the existing circuits are not as documented? A strong answer Verifies rather than trusting the panel schedule, which is almost always wrong in an older building: traces circuits, confirms what is on them and what else shares them, and checks for switch legs, emergency circuits and controls that are not on the drawings. Updates the schedule as they go. Knows emergency and egress lighting circuits are the ones that get wrongly reused and that the consequence is found during a power failure.
What is your approach to a retrofit where the existing panel is full? A strong answer Looks at the real options rather than defaulting to the most expensive: a supply-side connection, a sub-panel, a listed tandem or a panel replacement, each checked against the busbar rating and the code's limits for a panel with two sources. Checks whether the existing load calculation supports what is there now. Prices the options for the customer honestly rather than deciding for them.
How do you handle arc fault or ground fault trips on a new array? A strong answer Treats them as real until proven otherwise rather than resetting repeatedly. For a ground fault, isolates by string with an insulation resistance tester to find the compromised conductor, and looks at the usual causes - a pinched conductor at a clamp, a damaged connector, water ingress in a junction. For an arc fault, inspects the connectors and the wire management rather than assuming it is nuisance tripping. Documents what was found.
What would make you refuse to energise? A strong answer Names real triggers: no permission to operate from the utility, an inspection not signed off, labelling or rapid shutdown incomplete, an insulation resistance or polarity test that failed, a ground fault present, equipment damaged, or a service whose rating the system exceeds. Says they would rather have the conversation about a delayed energisation than be the person who energised a system that then faulted.

The mistake this seat invites

Treating retrofit work as device swapping. The licensed electrical scope, the interconnection and the controls commissioning are where the job succeeds or stalls.

Where the role goes next

Electricians on this work move to foreman or project manager, and NABCEP certification raises their standing on solar jobs. Candidates ask this in the first conversation, and an employer who cannot answer it loses the people who had other options.

Interview kit for this role

All interview questions for this role in the question bank.
Printable interview scorecard built from these questions and signals.
The LED & Solar hiring kit - every role in the trade, with credentials and offer risks.
Offer calculator starting from this role's pay band.

The search

What the search actually takes.

We have not closed an LED & solar search in 2026 year to date, so we publish no timing figure of our own for this seat rather than borrow one. The Hiring Index shows the trades where we do.