Business Combinations - Purchase Allocation for Acquired Assets and Liabilities (Details) $ in Thousands	Jun. 24, 2015 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment	$ 56,497
Asset retirement obligation	(2,130)
Total purchase price	408,820
Solar Gen Two Project Entity
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Equity method investment	216,483
North Star
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Equity method investment	103,849
Lost Hills Blackwell
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Equity method investment	$ 34,121

Business combination recognized identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed asset retirement obligation.

No definition available.

Name:	cafd_BusinessCombinationRecognizedIdentifiableAssetsAcquiredAndLiabilitiesAssumedAssetRetirementObligation
Namespace Prefix:	cafd_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Business combination recognized identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed equity method investments.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	cafd_BusinessCombinationRecognizedIdentifiableAssetsAcquiredAndLiabilitiesAssumedEquityMethodInvestments
Namespace Prefix:	cafd_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount recognized as of the acquisition date for the identifiable assets acquired in excess of (less than) the aggregate liabilities assumed.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 805

-SubTopic 10

-Section 55

-Paragraph 37

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744172&loc=d3e2207-128464

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 805

-SubTopic 20

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (c)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=56956791&loc=d3e4845-128472

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationRecognizedIdentifiableAssetsAcquiredAndLiabilitiesAssumedNet
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The amount of property, plant, and equipment recognized as of the acquisition date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 805

-SubTopic 20

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (c)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=56956791&loc=d3e4845-128472

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 805

-SubTopic 10

-Section 55

-Paragraph 37

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744172&loc=d3e2207-128464

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationRecognizedIdentifiableAssetsAcquiredAndLiabilitiesAssumedPropertyPlantAndEquipment
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=cafd_SolarGenTwoProjectEntityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=cafd_NorthStarMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=cafd_LostHillsBlackwellMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: