Twin Falls County, ID Solar Energy: Panel Permits (2026)

Chapter 21 of the zoning title splits solar into three tiers by nameplate capacity and footprint: personal-use systems under two hundred kilowatts and two hundred square feet serving a single-family home, small-scale projects from two hundred kilowatts up to ten megawatts, and large-scale projects at ten megawatts or more, or that encumber forty or more acres. Section 8-21-3(B) sets the permit split: small- and large-scale solar needs a conditional use permit before any construction or ground-disturbing work starts, while a personal-use system instead needs a siting permit and a building permit.

Every application goes to the community development services department with fees, a scaled site plan showing property lines, setbacks, height, nearby scenic and wildlife corridors, drainage, and distances to neighboring residences, plus a drainage and erosion control plan and, for large-scale work, a fire protection plan. Personal-use siting permits are decided administratively: the zoning administrator mails notice to utility companies, the highway district, canal company, and property owners within three hundred feet, takes written comments for fifteen days, then issues a written decision within twenty-eight days of the comment period closing.

Conditional use permits for small- and large-scale projects instead go through the Planning and Zoning Commission process in Title 8, Chapter 7. Once approved, an owner has one year to pull a building permit for a small-scale project and two years for a large-scale one, or the conditional use permit lapses automatically. Large-scale solar is only conditionally allowed in the agricultural preservation zone.