Solar Energy

The county's land-use regulations permit solar energy systems in all districts with special use approval for larger systems; the county's ECObuild building code offers points for several solar energy equipment and design features. It permits solar energy systems by right in all districts except Backcountry, in which they are a special use (Table 3-300, Table 3-320). Any system larger than 80 kW requires a special use permit, and unreasonable covenants or restrictions on solar energy devices are not allowed (§3-310.Bb).

The land-use regulations establish an efficient building code (ECObuild) for new R3 construction in which a certain number of points must be obtained for development approvals. A number of points are available under the Renewable Energy section for passive solar design , solar hot water systems, and on-site solar PV systems (§4.830.5), as well as in the Resource Efficiency section for solar orientation and renewable energy system enertgy offsets (§4-1030.4).