Rules by state

Solar and battery interconnection rules in New Jersey

New Jersey interconnection of Class I renewable energy systems. 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. A utility outside that list sets its own terms, so confirm who serves the address first.

Check a New Jersey 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

Level 1 Size 0 to 25 kW

An inverter based facility with a nameplate rating in alternating current of 50 kilowatts or less and an export capacity of 25 kilowatts or less. Both tests must pass. The screen places this tier at 25 kW because a system with no stated export limit exports everything it makes; a deliberately export limited design may reach the higher nameplate allowance. The Board raised the Level 1 application fee from zero to $100 in the January 2026 amendments. No additional liability insurance may be required at Level 1 or Level 2.

  • $100 application fee per the January 2026 amendments
  • Export capacity not above 25 kW as well as nameplate not above 50 kW
  • No additional liability insurance
Level 2 Size 25.001 to 2000 kW

An export capacity of two megawatts or less measured in alternating current. The fee is up to $50 plus $1 per kilowatt of export capacity, changed from nameplate rating by the January 2026 amendments. No additional liability insurance may be required.

  • Up to $50 plus $1 per kilowatt of export capacity
  • No additional liability insurance
Level 3 Size 2000.001 kW and above

An export capacity greater than two megawatts. The fee is up to $100 plus $10 per kilowatt of export capacity with a maximum of $10,000. Cost overruns above 50 percent of the total estimated upgrade cost may not be charged to the applicant.

  • Up to $100 plus $10 per kilowatt of export capacity, capped at $10,000
  • System impact and facilities studies

The screens that decide it

Ask the utility this, before you sell it

  1. Is the Level 1 and Level 2 size threshold measured in alternating or direct current? The interconnection subchapter says only power rating while the chapter wide definitions define a megawatt as measured in direct current. On a system near the boundary this decides the review level.
  2. What is this customer electricity supply over the previous twelve months? New Jersey caps the generating capacity at that amount, making it a strict 100 percent of historical consumption state.
  3. What does the published hosting capacity map show for this address? New Jersey requires quarterly updated address level maps giving the additional export capable capacity, which is the right feed for a pre sale screen here.
  4. What is the relevant minimum load on this circuit over the past twelve months?

Worth knowing before you quote

New Jersey bars an electric distribution company from requiring additional liability insurance at Level 1 or Level 2, meaning up to two megawatts, unless the applicant agrees. The January 2026 amendments added a detailed export control regime with default settings: reverse power protection at 0.1 percent export of the service transformer nominal rating with a two second delay, minimum power protection at five percent import of the total nameplate rating, and a relative rating option letting a customer declare zero export where the nameplate is no greater than 50 percent of verifiable minimum host load over the past twelve months. Common Level 3 screens do not yet exist as published text; each utility must adopt them.

Source

New Jersey Administrative Code Title 14 Chapter 8 Subchapter 5, interconnection of Class I renewable energy systems, with the January 2026 amendments adopted as R.2026 d.010 at 58 N.J.R. 72(a), Board of Public Utilities docket QO21010085

Read and recorded 2026-09-12. Binds electric distribution companies, defined as electric public utilities. Municipals and cooperatives are not listed in the chapter applicability, which in New Jersey is a small practical gap. The January 2026 amendments were a substantial rewrite; any New Jersey screening logic older than 5 January 2026 is wrong.

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.