NY-Sun vs solar permit plans is the mismatch that shows up after the roof is done: NYSERDA has 24 modules, the town stamped 22, and National Grid still has the sales kW. Incentive review is not plan check, and plan check is not PTO. If the three files tell three stories, you will redo drawings while the crew sits.
Athol Energy’s New York solar design packages are built so the permit design set, the interconnection diagram, and the NY-Sun uploads share one equipment schedule. We draft for installers and EPCs, not for homeowners shopping panels. The NY-Sun Program Manual dated April 2026 (Version 22) is the document this post cites. If NYSERDA revises a section after that date, use the portal copy, not this article, for a live filing.
NY-Sun vs solar permit plans: three reviewers, one schedule
NYSERDA wants a project application in its portal, signed by the customer. Residential and nonresidential applications list a contractor and a builder. Commercial and industrial applications list a contractor only. Each person who submits needs their own login. That is program administration. It does not care about FDNY 6-foot paths or a Brookhaven USP checkbox, and it will still reject you if the site map disagrees with the electrical drawing.
The AHJ wants a constructible set: site plan, roof plan, attachment layout with dimensions, electrical single-line with conductor and conduit notes, cut sheets, placard notes. NYC wants a design professional of record in DOB NOW. Many upstate towns want PE or RA stamped construction documents under the Unified Solar Permit. The utility wants SIR Appendix F or PSEG LI SGIP. NY-Sun sits on top of both. It does not replace either.
The April 2026 Manual’s site map list is specific enough to draft from. Show modules, inverters, paired storage if any, disconnects, point of interconnection, and the utility meter. Show tilt, azimuth, and module count on each roof face or sub-array. Show wire runs more than 100 feet, and messenger wire (CAB) if you are using it. Show trees that will be removed. Put the customer name and address on the sheet. If there is storage, show batteries, inverters/chargers, management disconnects, PCC, and meter. That is not a sales birdseye. It is a plan NYSERDA technical review will score against sample issues posted at nyserda.ny.gov/solar-contractor-resources.
Your town roof plan can carry more: fire path, attachment spacing, edge zones, snow guards. Your NY-Sun site map can omit some of those fire notes. It cannot omit the PCC or lie about module count. Export both from the same layout. If a tree comes down to hit TSRF, it has to be on the NY-Sun map, and the shading report has to be redone after removal before NYSERDA pays. The Manual is explicit that incentive payment waits on a new approved shading report when trees or obstructions are removed.
The electrical drawing NYSERDA actually reads
A legible one-line or three-line is acceptable. It must show quantity, conductor size, and insulation type of hot, neutral/grounded, and ground conductors; raceway, conduit, and enclosure type; string configuration; voltage and amperage ratings of combiners, OCPD, switches, inverters, batteries, panels, including the main service panel and main breaker; quantity, manufacturer, and model of inverter, storage components, and modules; usable storage kWh AC if storage is in the project; customer name and address. That is heavier conductor detail than some town USP samples. If your AHJ one-line says “2#10 THHN in 3/4 EMT” and the NY-Sun diagram is a cartoon with no wire size, technical review will bounce it even if the building inspector already signed.
Match the utility SLD to that same conductor story when the utility cares. SIR Appendix F (effective February 9, 2026) wants component ratings and inverter settings. PSEG LI wants an exact existing-service sketch. Do not maintain three unrelated PDFs. Maintain one model and print views. If the main breaker is 200 A on the NY-Sun sheet and 150 A on the permit SLD, someone copied an old panel photo. Fix it before any portal sees it.
Structural letters: NYC versus everyone else
For roof-mounted projects outside of NYC DOB, the April 2026 Manual requires structural calculations and a statement or structural letter that the existing roof has sufficient capacity for the PV loads, stamped, signed, and dated by a New York PE or RA. That letter is a NY-Sun document. The town may want the same PE on the attachment layout. Use one engineer, one set of loads, one module count. PE stamping on the AHJ set should not quote a different snow load than the NY-Sun letter.
NYC DOB jobs already have an Applicant of Record. Do not invent a second structural letter that disagrees with the DOB analysis. Align the NY-Sun site map with the DOB roof plan, including FDNY paths that reduced the count. If NY-Sun still wants photos and a shading report, those are extra, not a second structural opinion.
Site photos for residential and nonresidential are not an aerial screenshot. The Manual wants array location from ground and roof, photos looking south, existing electrical service, and proposed inverter location. Document preexisting code problems. Split-bus panels and load centers are not to be used for the solar interconnection, fused or breaker style. FPE Stab-Lock and Bulldog/ITE pushmatic-style breakers are not to be used for supply-side or load-side connection. Damaged or severely corroded gear is out. Missing or undersized grounding electrodes and water-meter jumpers must be replaced. Roof damage in the array area must be repaired. Supply-side disconnects need OCPD that meets or exceeds available fault current. Those are construction scope items. If the permit set shows a tap on a Stab-Lock panel, you have a NY-Sun fail and an inspection fail. Put the panel replacement on the electrical sheet before you upload.
Shading, 110 percent, and change orders
Acceptable shading tools are listed in the Manual (Solmetric Suneye, Solar Pathfinder, Bright Harvest, Solar Census, Lightmile, HelioScope, Wiley ASSET, Aurora, Scanifly, Solargraf, IMGING, OpenSolar, Solo, Enact, Artemis, EverBright). TSRF below 70 percent reduces the residential/nonresidential incentive. Multiple arrays need a weighted average. NYSERDA calculates annual output in the portal with PVWatts. Residential systems that offset more than 110 percent of annual use get checked against that portal figure. Do not attach a random production PDF that disagrees with the portal and expect it to win.
Commercial and industrial jobs add CESIR (and proof of 25 percent upgrade payment or utility-approved standby letter of credit) or a signed interconnection agreement if no CESIR. Planning and zoning proof is required for C/I. The Manual says that does not include ministerial building permits. SEQRA, coastal GIS screenshots, agricultural district NOI, and GIS shapefiles are C/I problems. They still have to agree with the array footprint on the site map. If the fence line in the .shp file is not the fence on the civil, NYSERDA will ask.
Customer utility bills are required with the application only for NYPA and municipal-utility projects. Everyone else still needs the utility interconnection on its own track. Do not upload a National Grid completeness email and call the SIR file done.
How we keep the three packets from drifting
Intake names the AHJ, the utility, the NY-Sun program (residential/nonresidential versus C/I), storage yes/no, and whether the roof is inside NYC DOB. We draft the AHJ set first with dimensions, then export a NY-Sun site map and electrical drawing from the same file, then build the utility diagram. QA looks for missing dimensions, conflicting callouts, and incomplete cut sheets. Then we check module count, inverter model, and AC kW across all three PDFs.
After install, as-built drawings have to satisfy NY-Sun’s as-built site map and three-line rules and the utility’s PTO package. If the field dropped a module for a vent, all three files move. If NY-Sun QA fails a photo of a Stab-Lock tap, the as-built should already show the new panel the electrician actually used.
Send the survey, equipment list, utility account, AHJ name, and whether NY-Sun is in the bid. We will tell you which PE letter NYSERDA wants and which sheets the town will stamp. NY-Sun vs solar permit plans only works when one schedule feeds every portal. Call +1 (209) 266-2669 before you upload three different layouts. If NYSERDA wants a roof letter and the town wants a full sealed set, export both from the same model. Do not scan a PE letter onto a sales layout that already moved modules. TSRF, DC kW, and inverter SKU have to match the SIR application. When they do not, photo review and the utility completeness clock both stall. One equipment list. Three portals. Same revision number on every PDF.