Wichita City - Solar Permitting

Summary

Solar Installation plans, specifications and other data shall be submitted for permit to the Building Official. The fees for solar installation are as follows, $40 for two or less site inspection for final approval and $15 for each additional site inspection. The Energy Advisory Board acts as a board of appeals for the solar installation process. Specific certificates and licenses are required to install, repair, replace and alter solar energy systems and it is unlawful to do so without a certificate or license.

2023 Update

Wichita-Sedgwick County government is currently reviewing the permitting process for Solar Energy Systems. The current unified zoning code does not distinguish solar energy systems by size or scale, meaning that smaller systems need to meet the same requirements as large scale facilities. The proposed updates would align the application requirements with the proposed scale of projects. The updates would distinguish between large and small scale systems, and would lessen the application requirements for small scale solar systems compared to large scale systems.

As of July 13, 2023, these changes are still under review and have not been approved by the full Metropolitan Area Planning Commission.