Connecticut already enacted the automated solar permitting law. It does not change how you file a Hartford or New Haven permit this week. Public Act 26-127, House Bill 5340, directs the Commissioner of Administrative Services to stand up a smart solar permitting platform by July 1, 2028. Municipalities then have until January 1, 2029 to take residential solar and solar-plus-storage applications through that state platform or through an equivalent automated system of their own.
The enacted text is on the General Assembly site as 2026PA-00127. Governor Ned Lamont signed the bill in early June. If a salesperson is telling homeowners that Connecticut now issues instant solar permits, they are reading the wrong year.
What the statute actually requires
The platform has to automatically review applications to construct a residential photovoltaic system, or that system paired with residential storage, and instantly release a building permit when the system complies with the Connecticut State Building Code. The commissioner sets the form, the supporting documents, and the rules for licenses, seals, and electronic signatures. Physical wet stamps and notarization can be waived for platform filings if the application carries the electronic equivalent the statute describes.
A town may use the state platform or an alternative that does the same job. A town may also work through its regional council of governments on a shared tool. That is how you will get a patchwork in 2028 and 2029: some AHJs on the state system, some on a COG system, some late. Until those go-live dates, you still file whatever portal or paper the building official uses today.
The law is residential. A 400 kW NRES roof on a warehouse is not waiting on DAS software. That job still needs a commercial permit set, a PE where the AHJ or the EDC asks for one, and a separate interconnection application.
PURA’s other August clock
Public Act 26-127 is not only a permitting bill. It also tells PURA to start successor-program work for NRES, RRES, and shared clean energy, including a proceeding on a Non-Residential successor and a Community Solar Program. The statute put an August 1, 2026 initiation deadline on that NRES-successor work. If you sell C&I in Eversource or UI territory, watch the PURA calendar in parallel with the DAS permitting calendar. PURA’s NRES page is still the live Year 5 tariff source while those successor dockets open.
Year 5 August NRES bids are due September 14. That is a 2026 problem. The smart permitting platform is a 2028 problem. Do not let one slide bury the other in a kickoff deck. If a COG starts an RFP for an alternative platform in 2027, that RFP will decide which file types your drafters have to export. DXF versus a portal questionnaire is a real cost. Put a watch on it now so you are not redrawing 40 residential sets in a month.
What to file at the AHJ until 2028
Keep using the current municipal checklist: building permit, electrical permit where the town splits them, site plan, roof plan, one-line, structural notes, cut sheets. Electronic submission is already common in the larger cities. Instant, code-automated issuance is not. Hartford and New Haven notes live on their city pages. Statewide residential program context is in the RRES installer guide. If a fire marshal still wants a paper energy-storage packet, bring the paper. The 2028 platform does not cancel that desk.
If DAS later requires a licensed electrician or a licensed PE on the platform application, that will be a form rule, not a surprise. NABCEP remains an installer credential. It does not replace a Connecticut PE on a drawing that needs one. When the set needs a stamp, use PE stamping.
Interconnection does not wait for DAS
Eversource and United Illuminating will not accept a future software screenshot in place of a complete interconnection application. Process tracks, screens, and written permission to operate stay on the EDC tariff. PTO, PPO, and permit to operate still mean the utility’s written authorization after inspection and metering. An instant building permit in 2029 would not change that letter.
See Eversource vs UI interconnection for the current split. Run permit design and interconnection as two packets that share a model. If the crew moved modules, file as-builts before you ask about PTO.
What Athol is telling CT crews
- Do not change 2026 cycle times based on a 2028 platform.
- Keep residential drawing standards tight enough that an automated checker would pass them. That work is not wasted.
- Watch DAS and COG RFPs in 2027. When a town names a tool, we will match the export, not invent one.
- Keep NRES/RRES successor news in the sales folder, separate from the permit folder.
City pages: Hartford, New Haven. Statewide: Connecticut solar design services. More on the blog.
Sources: Connecticut Public Act 26-127, PURA NRES program page.