With residential solar panels becoming more common in North Texas, you’d think the process would be a relatively painless one.
However, dueling bills could speed up solar permits in Dallas — or slow development of new clean energy projects in Texas altogether.
One bill under consideration is Senate Bill 1202.
If enacted, it would allow private vendors to approve home installations of solar panels, batteries, and generators if city permitting takes longer than two business days.
That’s if a different bill doesn’t halt new clean energy projects altogether.
On Wednesday, the Senate passed SB 819, which exclusively places permit restrictions, fees, and new regulatory requirements for solar and wind projects.
Critics say the legislation “adds onerous requirements to new solar projects that would not apply to other energy sources except wind,” the Solar Energy Industry Association said in a statement.
Streamlining Permits in Dallas
Environment Texas, the Lone Star State’s branch of the environmentalist nonprofit Environment America, supports streamlining permits with SB 1202.
“What we’ve seen is increases of thousands of dollars in cost on these solar installations just because of permitting,” said Ian Seamans, the Dallas City Hall advocate for Environment Texas.
As previously reported by CandysDirt.com, the City of Dallas’ permitting operations have come under fire for costly mistakes and delays over the last few years.
State lawmakers want to free up the bottlenecks in municipalities like Dallas and open up permitting authority to private third-party vendors.
The City of Dallas enacted a similar measure in February 2024 to allow qualified professionals to “self-certify” specific projects, expediting the permitting process so builders don’t have to wait on city staff — the result of a house bill passed last session.
Rooftop solar panels have become increasingly popular in the Lone Star State over the past several years.
A report by Environment Texas published last year shows that residential solar (measured in Gigawatt-hours) has increased dramatically, rising from 476 GWh in 2017 to 2,995 GWh in 2022.
19 Days to Get a Permit
Seamans said a big part of the problem is municipalities maintaining antiquated permitting processes.
According to data compiled by National Renewable Energy Laboratory, it took the city of Dallas 19 days on average in 2022 to issue a permit for solar panel installation.
For the installation of solar panels with battery storage, the city averaged 22 days for panels rated 11-20 kilowatts and 27 days for panels rated 0-10 kilowatts.
Data from 2023 appears incomplete.
“The more manual it gets, the more back and forth, the more man hours involved, the more paper is involved, the more expensive it gets,” he said, pointing to automatic permitting technologies like SolarAPP+ as a solution.
The Dallas Environmental Commission recommended the city adopt SolarAPP+ in December 2023.
The plan review software can execute compliance checks and approve or deny building permit applications for eligible rooftop solar systems.
The recommendation didn’t advance.
CandysDirt.com reached out to the city for data on solar permitting.
According to city data, permitting times for solar-only reviews have dramatically decreased since Q4 of fiscal year 2023.
The city explained that permit reviews are conducted by two teams simultaneously.
One team is responsible for building and zoning compliance, and the other is responsible for electrical safety compliance.
As of Q2 of fiscal year 2025, both teams were averaging under two days.
“We have recently been looking at these processes for solar-only installations and have come to the determination that we can indeed be faster on these projects.
Working with our intake team we have introduced a priority lane for solar-only projects that should have approval after fee payments in 24-hours or less,” the city said.
“That timeline for approval is based on a compliant installation that will only require one review cycle.
Longer approval times due to applicants’ delayed payment or returned correspondence cannot be rectified by the City.
Overall, we feel we can meet similar timelines to SolarAPP+ for solar-only projects,” the city added.
CandysDirt.com was also forwarded a letter written by Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12), chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Legislative Affairs, to the chair of the Texas Senate Business & Commerce Committee:
“SB 1202 would limit regulatory oversight by allowing third-party reviews and inspections without requiring submission to the regulatory authority.
This creates a risk of inconsistent enforcement of fire and electrical codes, potentially leading to hazardous installations.
The fast-tracked proposed approval process does not allow for sufficient review of safety compliance, particularly for electrical systems that could pose fire, explosion, or carbon monoxide risks if improperly installed.
Removing municipal control over fees could limit the city’s ability to properly fund safety inspections.
While the intent of streamlining permitting for home backup power is understandable, the current language undermines public safety and weakens enforcement of key safety standards.”
Still, Seamans said snafus that should be a quick fix can turn into a ping-pong match of sorts between permitting officials and installers, dragging out the process and souring homeowners on the prospect.
Those delays translate into higher installation costs, canceled jobs, and frustrated homeowners, he said.
“They blame it on the installers.
It’s not something you’d ever think about, but that’s actually one of the major friction points with getting people to have solar and batteries,” he said.
Many cities in Texas issue solar permits within a few days.
“And these are cities that don’t necessarily have a whole lot of this automated stuff involved, but they might just have a lower volume,” he said.
This article was updated at 3 p.m. on April 17, 2025, to include a letter opposing SB 1202 written by Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12) on behalf of the Ad Hoc Committee on Legislative Affairs.
It was updated again at 5:41 p.m. that same day to include more up-to-date data on permit turnaround for solar-only reviews.
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