Memphis, TN Solar Energy: Panel Permits (2026)

2 of the Unified Development Code, the Renewable Energy Systems chapter shared by the City of Memphis and unincorporated Shelby County, sorts solar into three tiers. 5's principal-use table instead. Small panels of 4 square feet or less are exempt from the regulations entirely. For a residential ground-mounted array, the code confines the array to the rear or side yard, sets its setback at either the underlying district minimum or 110% of the array's height (whichever is greater), caps its height at 35 feet or the height of the house (whichever is less), requires underground conduit for the wiring, and requires a Class 1 landscape buffer or an equivalent screen approved by the Zoning Administrator.

Building-mounted panels on a single-family roof cannot rise more than 12 inches above a street-visible roof peak or extend more than 12 inches past the roof edge; on a flat roof they are capped at 5 feet above the roof deck and must be screened from the right-of-way. All ground-mounted electrical and control equipment has to be secured against unauthorized access, equipment left non-functional for a year must come out, right-of-way trees cannot be cut for extra sun exposure, and every grid-tied system has to meet MLGW's interconnection standards.