Guides from the design desk
Texas solar + battery permit guides for installers
Practical, sourced answers to the questions that hold up residential PV and storage jobs in Texas: busbar math, battery placement, fire pathways, utility paperwork and what reviewers look for. Each guide cites the code sections and official pages it relies on, and says plainly where the answer depends on your AHJ or utility.
Written by Novarra Design Solutions. Code references are checked against the editions named in each post.
- Utilities
- Permitting
- Texas
Texas residential solar + battery permit and interconnection checklist by utility: Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Texas and TNMP
A Texas residential PV + battery job has two approval tracks that run side by side: the AHJ's permit and the utility's interconnection. This checklist covers both, in order, with what each of the four big transmission and distribution utilities publishes about drawings, the AC disconnect, batteries and permission to operate.
Published · 5 min read
All guides
- Main panel upgrades
- Storage
- NEC
The 120% rule on battery jobs: load-side breaker, supply-side tap, EMS or main panel upgrade?
On storage jobs, the main panel's busbar math usually decides the scope more than the battery does. Here's the 120% rule as written in the 2023 NEC, worked numbers for common Texas panels, and a decision path through the options when the math doesn't fit.
Published · 6 min read
- Storage
- Battery placement
- IRC
Where can the battery go? Residential ESS placement under IRC R328 for Texas installers
Most residential storage corrections come down to where the battery sits. This guide walks through the IRC energy storage rules many Texas cities enforce (R328 in the 2021 IRC, R330 in the 2024 IRC), the kWh limits, the garage details reviewers look for, and how to lay out a battery wall so it holds up at plan review and inspection.
Published · 6 min read
- Texas law
- Storage
- Permitting
Texas SB 1202: third-party plan review and inspection for home battery and backup power permits
Since September 1, 2025, Texas law lets a qualified third party review the plans and do the inspection for a home backup power installation, without waiting on the city or county. Here's what the statute actually says, who qualifies, and how to use it without creating new problems.
Published · 6 min read
- Codes
- Texas law
- AHJs
Which code edition applies to a Texas solar + battery permit? NEC 2026, local amendments and IRC editions
Texas's statewide electrical code changed to the 2026 NEC on September 1, 2026. Building and fire codes are still adopted city by city, and section numbers moved between editions. This guide covers how the layers fit, where to check them, and the renumbered sections that most often cause corrections on PV and storage sets.
Published · 4 min read
- Storage
- Corrections
- Plan review
Why residential battery permit sets get corrections, and a pre-submission check that catches most of them
PV-only sets are fairly predictable. Storage sets add a battery location, kWh limits, more disconnects, more labels and often a service change, so there's more for a reviewer to question. These are the correction themes we see most, the code sections behind each one, and a checklist to run before you submit.
Published · 5 min read
- Fire setbacks
- IRC
- AHJs
What "3x18" means: residential solar fire pathways and ridge setbacks in Texas
"3x18" is shorthand for two numbers in the IRC's roof access rules: 36-inch pathways and an 18-inch ridge setback. It's only part of the rule set. This guide covers the whole of IRC R324.6 as written, the plan-view coverage math that changes the ridge setback, the exceptions, and how to dimension it so a reviewer can check it in a minute.
Published · 4 min read
- Site surveys
- Process
- Storage
Solar + battery site survey photo checklist: the shots a permit planset depends on
Most planset delays start at the survey, not in CAD. This is the photo list we'd tape to every survey tablet: what to shoot at the meter, the main panel, the battery wall, the garage, the attic and the roof, what each photo decides on the planset, and the shots that go missing most.
Published · 4 min read
- Utilities
- Interconnection
- Texas
ESI IDs, meter numbers and the utility details that hold up Texas solar interconnection
An ESI ID is the number that pins an interconnection request to one specific meter. Here's what it is, how to find it, which utilities want it printed on the one-line and site plan, and the other small utility details that hold up Texas jobs longer than any design question.
Published · 4 min read
- Plan sets
- Permitting
- Storage
What's in a solar + battery permit plan set, sheet by sheet
A residential solar + battery permit plan set is usually eight to a dozen sheets, and each one answers a specific reviewer's question. Here's every sheet in order, what Texas plan reviewers and utilities look for on it, the code sections behind it, and what changes when a battery is added.
Published · 8 min read
- Houston
- Permitting
- Utilities
Houston solar + battery permit guide for installers: City of Houston permits and CenterPoint interconnection
A Houston solar + battery job runs on two tracks: a City of Houston permit through the Houston Permitting Center, and interconnection through CenterPoint Energy. This guide covers both, what we could verify from official sources, where SolarAPP+ fits (and where it doesn't for storage), and what to confirm with the city before you submit.
Published · 6 min read
- Dallas–Fort Worth
- Permitting
- Utilities
Dallas–Fort Worth solar + battery permit guide: Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano, Frisco and Oncor
Five DFW cities, five different permit processes, and one utility for most addresses. This guide summarizes what Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano and Frisco publish about solar and battery permits, the code editions each lists, and exactly what Oncor wants on the interconnection drawings.
Published · 7 min read
- Outsourcing
- Process
- Plan sets
Outsourcing solar permit design: what to check before you hire a plan set provider
Outsourcing permit design can take a bottleneck off your PMs, or create a new one. This is the checklist we'd use to evaluate any plan set provider, including us: the questions to ask, what a good answer sounds like, and the tradeoffs of outsourcing at all.
Published · 6 min read
- Utilities
- Interconnection
- Single line diagrams
One-line diagrams for Texas utility interconnection: what Oncor, TNMP, CenterPoint and El Paso Electric want to see
The one-line diagram is the drawing both the AHJ and the utility read. The two audiences want different things. Here's what every residential solar + battery one-line should show, what Oncor, TNMP, CenterPoint and El Paso Electric add, the 2023 NEC sections behind it, and the mistakes that send it back.
Published · 6 min read