Charlotte, NC Solar Energy: Panel Permits (2026)

Under UDO Sec. D, "A zoning use permit is required for all permanent accessory structures, except for those permanent structures that require a building permit," and Sec. C bars occupying or using any accessory structure until the principal structure's permits are closed and a certificate of compliance or occupancy is issued. Solar panels are treated as accessory structures under Article 17, so a ground-mounted array must clear the zoning use permit review against Sec. M before installation. That section exempts single-family, duplex, triplex and quadraplex dwellings on individual lots from its screening rules entirely.

For every other property, ground-mounted panels may sit in the established side or rear setback, but if the array is visible from a frontage or from an adjacent Neighborhood 1 Place Type lot, it must be screened by a fence built 25% or less open, a wall, or a row of evergreen shrubs, with the screening at least as tall as the base of the panels. If the panel base is three feet or less off the ground, no screening is required at all, and a small installation of no more than two panels not exceeding three feet in height, length or depth is also exempt regardless of visibility.

Roof-mounted solar panels, parking facility solar canopies, and building-integrated solar panels carry no screening requirement under Sec. M(2), because they don't sit at grade where they would obstruct a neighbor's view or frontage. The Ordinance took effect June 1, 2023, and was last amended March 23, 2026, so any permit review checks the array's siting against these current standards, not an older zoning code.