Weld County, CO Solar Energy: Panel Permits (2026)

Weld County treats small ground-mounted solar arrays as their own permit category, the Solar Energy Facility under five acres, shortened to "5 ACRE SEF," governed by Division 6 of Article IV of Chapter 23. Section 23-4-455 requires a preliminary drainage report reviewed by the Department of Public Works at submittal, then a final report stamped by a Colorado-licensed engineer before a grading permit issues. Applicants must also file a dust and weed mitigation plan and, if the site touches a mapped floodplain, secure a Flood Hazard Development Permit before any building permit.

The most detailed requirement is a decommissioning and reclamation plan, signed by both the responsible party and the landowner, that must commence within twelve months of the facility going out of use and finish within twelve more; before construction starts, the operator must post an irrevocable letter of credit or bond, naming the Board of County Commissioners as sole beneficiary and issued by an A-rated financial institution, sized to cover the full removal and reclamation cost, updated every five years. Development standards under Subsection F cap ground-mounted panels at twenty-five feet in height, ban glare directed at neighboring properties or roads, require buried electrical cabling, mandate a security fence with high-voltage warning signage, and set the improved area back at least five hundred feet from existing homes and platted residential lots, a distance that can be reduced only with landscaping, an opaque fence, or the neighboring owner's signed waiver.

Only one 5 ACRE SEF is allowed per thirty-five acres, and it cannot sit immediately next to another one. 00, on top of any grading or building permit fees.