Huntington, NY Solar Energy: Panel Permits (2026)

Under Town Code Article III (§§ 157-12 through 157-17), added in 2011 to align with the Long Island Unified Solar Permitting Initiative, the Department of Engineering Services must expedite every building permit application for solar panels on residential, non-residential and accessory structures. Applications for a "standard installation" on a residential or accessory structure must be decided within fourteen business days of filing a completed application. The flat permit fee for a standard residential installation is sixty dollars, set by a 2015 amendment; if installation is commenced or completed before the permit is applied for or issued, the fee jumps to three times the amount set under Chapter 87.

To qualify as a "standard installation" eligible for the fast track, a project must not require architectural review or Huntington Historic Preservation Commission review, must sit on a single-layer roof, be mounted flush and parallel no more than six inches above the surface, leave an eighteen-inch clearing at the roof ridge and an eighteen-inch clearing path to it, and add no more than five pounds per square foot of roof load for photovoltaic panels or six pounds per square foot for solar hot water systems.

Installers must participate in the NY-Sun program, and panels and inverters must carry Underwriters Laboratory certification. Before the Town issues a certificate of completion, the owner must affix a sign or decal to the utility meter and any AC disconnect switch identifying the site as an operating solar electric co-generation system.