Rules by state

Solar and battery interconnection rules in Louisiana

Louisiana distributed generation rules (General Order 09-19-2019). Every threshold below was read out of the document linked at the bottom of this page, and the same rules answer the free screening check.

Who this binds: investor owned utilities, electric cooperatives. A utility outside that list sets its own terms, so confirm who serves the address first.

Check a Louisiana address free
How the size is measured: not published

The published limits here are stated in kilowatts without saying whether that is the inverter rating in alternating current or the array rating in direct current. On a system near a threshold that decides which band it lands in, so the checker asks the question rather than choosing an answer.

Size bands and what each one obliges

Residential, 25 kW or less Size 0 to 25 kW

A residential distributed generation facility of not more than 25 kilowatts. The agreement must be submitted at least thirty business days before the intended interconnection date and there is a thirty day review period, with utilities using best efforts to complete review within fourteen days.

  • Standard interconnection agreement filed thirty business days ahead
  • Accessible and clearly labeled disconnection switch unless waived
Commercial or agricultural, above 25 kW to 300 kW Size 25.001 to 300 kW

Not more than three hundred kilowatts for commercial or agricultural use. The agreement must be submitted at least forty five business days ahead with a forty five day review period.

  • Standard interconnection agreement filed forty five business days ahead

The screens that decide it

Ask the utility this, before you sell it

  1. What is this customer expected aggregate electric consumption, calculated as the average of the two previous twelve month periods of actual usage? Louisiana sizes the facility at no more than one hundred percent of that average, which differs from Virginia use of the single previous twelve months and matters for a customer who recently moved or built.
  2. The order says generating capacity without saying alternating or direct current. Confirm which figure will be used.
  3. What is the current avoided cost rate? Systems interconnected after 31 December 2019 are credited at avoided cost rather than retail, and the rates are published annually.

Worth knowing before you quote

Louisiana imposes no liability insurance requirement at any size. The word insurance appears nowhere in the order, confirmed by reading the whole document rather than inferred, which with Mississippi makes these the two southeastern states that do not require a residential customer to carry it. The former half percent cap was reached and then repealed outright, so Louisiana has no aggregate cap today; a screening tool must not carry a cap filled flag for this state. Customers with facilities completed and a complete interconnection request submitted by 31 December 2019 are paid full retail for excess energy until 31 December 2034. Louisiana publishes no technical screens at all: no 15 percent line section screen, no fault current screen and no transformer screen, so a Louisiana site cannot be pre qualified on hosting capacity from published state criteria.

Source

Louisiana Public Service Commission General Order 09-19-2019 corrected, Docket R-33929, review of policies related to customer owned solar generation, effective 1 January 2020

Read and recorded 2026-09-12. Louisiana is the broadest of the southeastern states on coverage and the only one that clearly binds cooperatives: the rule defines an electric utility as an investor owned electric utility, an electric cooperative, or any other entity meeting the statutory public utility definition. Cooperatives were active parties in the docket. Whether municipal systems are included turns on the statutory public utility definition, which was not read.

What to do with this

Check a real address

The rules below are the general case. Run the free check to see which utility serves a specific address, which tier the system lands in, and what to ask.

Run the free check
Installers: keep the answer with the job

GridProjeX holds the project from here, with every value tied to the document it came from and the utility and permit tracks run to permission to operate.

How it works for installers
Utilities: see what applicants are told

The same published rules your applicants read here are the ones your queue sees. GridProjeX is the record both sides work from.

How it works for utilities

Also from CivyxIQ, if they fit what you already do: SolarProjeX for running the crews and the jobs, and Solar Home so the homeowner can follow their own project. Neither is needed to use the checker.