Nassau County

A city address is usually permitted by the city, not the county — but not always, and some authorities keep building and hand electrical to someone else. Getting this wrong costs the whole submittal, because every requirement below belongs to whoever actually holds jurisdiction. Check the overlays in the same pass: an HOA, a historic district, a windstorm certification or a system-size cap can reshape the design, and all of them are cheaper to find now than after the array is laid out.

• Is this authority the AHJ for residential solar at this address? Yes — for unincorporated Nassau County only 90% · department page
• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? Both 92% · permit application form
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Yes 85% · adopting notice + exemption form
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? Separate 80% · fee schedule + permit application forms
• Is a HOA or architectural approval required first? No 65% · department page (DRC scope)
• Is there a historic-district review? No — at the County level. Historic-district review exists only inside the City of Fernandina Beach (a separate AHJ), whose Building Department requires a Certificate of Approval for exterior work in its Historic Districts before permitting 65% · department page + comparison to Fernandina Beach permits page
• Is a wind or windstorm certification required? No separate certification beyond standard Florida Product Approval; a wind-borne debris region does apply along the coast 58% · county wind zone map (OCR'd)
• Is a Specific Use Permit or Council approval ever required? No, for residential rooftop — Council/conditional-use approval is required only for utility-scale 'Solar Farms' (defined as multi-acre commercial PV arrays), added as a conditional or permitted use in specific zoning districts by Ordinances 2025-021 and 2025-022 (adopted 8/8/2025); a rooftop PV system on an existing single-family home is an accessory use and not swept into that definition 75% · adopted zoning ordinance
• Is there a system-size cap on residential generation? No system-size cap found for residential/accessory rooftop PV; the only size-related solar provision in the Land Development Code targets commercial 'Solar Farms', not accessory residential systems 62% · adopted zoning ordinance

Several authorities require the electrical permit to be pulled by a licensed electrician, or require the contractor to be registered with them BEFORE applying. Registration is not same-day. This is second on the list rather than fourth because it is the step most likely to stop the job before the drawings matter.

• Who is allowed to pull the electrical permit? Either 88% · permit application forms
• Must the contractor be registered with this authority before applying? Yes, in substance — a state DBPR/ECLB certification or a Nassau-issued Certificate of Competency is required, and the County maintains a specific local 'Solar Contractor' license category 75% · contractor licensing notice
• Is a homeowner permitted to self-install and self-permit? Yes, with a wiring carve-out 65% · permit application form (reprints F.S. 489.103(7)(a))

Almost everywhere wants a site plan, a one-line or three-line electrical diagram, equipment cut sheets with listings, and a structural attachment detail. Build it against the published checklist rather than the last jurisdiction you worked in — the checklist is what the reviewer marks against.

• What documents make up a complete submittal? General building-permit submittal set (no PV-specific list published): completed Permit Application + Sufficiency Checklist; Structural plans (signed/sealed) if applicable; Architectural plans if required; Truss engineering if applicable; Florida Energy Forms/Manual J or N; Florida Product Approval info per F.S. 553.842; Owner-Builder Affidavit if self-permitting; Notice of Commencement if job cost > $5,000 72% · sufficiency checklist + digital permitting procedures
• How many copies, and in what format? Digital only: one PDF per document type (Application, Structural Engineering, Architectural Plans, Truss Engineering, Energy Forms, Product Approval), each digitally signed/sealed and unlocked, emailed to permitting@nassaucountyfl.com (transitioning to the Accela Citizen Access portal) 80% · department procedure notice
• Is a site plan required, and what must it show? Yes — an 8½x11 site plan, per the general sufficiency checklist; no PV-specific content requirement (e.g. array layout, setbacks) is separately spelled out 65% · sufficiency checklist

Most authorities now take the whole application through a portal, and several states cap or constrain what a residential solar permit may cost. Check whether plan check is billed separately before you quote the job.

• Which permit portal does this authority use? Munis Citizen Self Service (Tyler Technologies) is the current live portal for account access, online inspection scheduling and online payment; the County announced Accela Citizen Access (ACA) will become its 'official Online Permit Portal' starting spring 2026, but as of this check (12 Sep 2026) the Permits page still links only Munis Self Service and the Nov 2025 notice describes email-based application submittal as the interim step, with no live ACA link found on the County site 80% · portal landing page + transition notice
• Can the whole application be completed online? No — applications are currently submitted by email as PDF attachments (not typed into an online form), and Owner/Builder applicants must still appear in person to sign the Disclosure Statement even under the new digital process 82% · department procedure notice
• Is there a separate plan-check fee? Likely yes for a Building-Permit filing (plan review = 40% of the Building Permit fee, or $10/sheet for preliminary review); likely folded-in / not separately itemized if filed as the flat amperage-based standalone Electrical Permit, which carries no plan-review line 55% · fee schedule

Interconnection is a separate process from the permit and usually the longer pole. Where the utility does not depend on the permit being issued, running both at once is the single biggest saving available on a residential job.

• What is the stated plan-review turnaround? No County-stated number; the County's own permitting procedures point to the state clock: F.S. 553.791/553.792 and 2023 FBC §105.3.4, i.e. commencing once the sufficiency checklist and any required Development Services/Fire/Planning/Stormwater approvals are complete 60% · department procedure notice citing state statute
• How long is an issued permit valid before it expires? 1 year from date of issuance for a permit issued by a county for a single-family dwelling, per F.S. 125.56(4)(d) as created by Ch. 2026-63 (HB 803), in force 1 Jul 2026 72% · enrolled state statute (Ch. 2026-63)
• Which utility handles interconnection here? Split by location — FPL, Florida Public Utilities (FPU) and Okefenokee REMC (a rural electric cooperative) all serve parts of unincorporated Nassau County 72% · county permit application form + bundled utility correspondence
• Where does the utility sit in the sequence? After permit — the Building Department's own release/final inspection precedes utility power connection 68% · county ordinance/bulletin (OCR'd, image-only PDF) + inspection types list

The NEC edition a jurisdiction enforces is often a cycle behind the newest one published, and local amendments sit on top of it. Rapid shutdown, conductor sizing and labelling all change between editions, so the edition in force is the first thing to establish, not the last.

• Which NEC edition is in force? 2020 95% · adopting notice + permit application masthead
• Which building code edition is in force? Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023) — Building, Residential, Existing Building, Plumbing, Mechanical, Energy Conservation and Fuel Gas volumes all cited as 8th Ed. (2023) 95% · adopting notice
• Which fire code edition is in force? Florida Fire Prevention Code, 8th Edition (2023) 93% · adopting notice
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? Yes, but administrative/zoning amendments rather than technical NEC/PV amendments — e.g. Ord. 2025-023 (adding local Building Official authority to order utility disconnection, FBC §112) and Ords. 2025-021/2025-022 (Land Development Code solar definitions and zoning-use amendments) 60% · adopted county ordinances
• What is the installation judged against? Florida Building Code 8th Ed. (2023) + 2020 NEC (NFPA 70) + Florida Fire Prevention Code 8th Ed. (2023), as adopted statewide and printed on every County permit application 93% · permit application forms

Ridge setbacks and roof access pathways are fire-service requirements and they constrain the array layout. They are the most common cause of a redesign after the fire department comments on a plan set.

Nothing recorded for Nassau County on this step yet — 1 question checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

Which rapid-shutdown rule applies follows directly from the NEC edition in force, and the initiation device has to be at a location the fire service can reach and identify. This is inspected, and it is labelled.

• Is rapid shutdown required, and to which NEC edition? Yes, by operation of the adopted 2020 NEC (Article 690.12); Nassau publishes no additional local rapid-shutdown bulletin 68% · code adoption (inferred)

The NEC sets a baseline for permanent markings at the service equipment and the disconnecting means. On top of that, an authority may specify its own wording, and the utility may specify more again. Where any of them writes its own text, a generic off-the-shelf label set will not pass — this is the detail most often fixed on a return visit.

Nothing recorded for Nassau County on this step yet — 6 questions checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

Where the AC disconnect must sit relative to the meter is usually the utility's rule, not the building department's. Battery storage frequently carries its own permit, its own inspection and its own fire conditions.

• Must equipment be on a specific approved list? No county-specific approved-equipment list; the only equipment-listing requirement found is the statewide Florida Product Approval program (F.S. 553.842), which is on the general sufficiency checklist for all building permits 60% · sufficiency checklist + product approval form

Booking is a portal, a phone call or an email depending on the authority, and the notice required is rarely zero. Book before the work is finished rather than after — the lead time, not the work, is usually what sets the date.

• How is an inspection booked? Portal (Munis Self Service, online) or Phone 88% · department page
• How much notice is required? By 4:00 PM the business day before the requested inspection (effectively 1 business day) 88% · department page + inspection types document

Some authorities inspect their own solar work; some delegate it, and a few do not inspect the PV equipment itself at all. Who is coming determines what they will look at.

• Does this AHJ perform its own final solar inspection? Yes 82% · department page
• If delegated, to whom? Not delegated by default — the County performs its own final inspection. An applicant may opt into the private-provider inspection route under F.S. 553.791, using the County's own Private Provider Plan Compliance Affidavit / Registration 82% · department page

A rough-in or mid-roof inspection, where one is required, has to happen before the work it covers is closed up. Missing a stage means opening something back up, and it is the most expensive kind of correction.

• Which inspections are required, and in what order? No PV-specific sequence is published. The County's general electrical inspection types (from its 'Inspection Types' list) that would realistically apply to a residential PV retrofit are: 260 – Electric Meter Set (if a new/production meter is set) then 299 – Electrical Final/Change-Out, which is required on all permits 55% · department inspection types list

The approved plan set, the permit, and the equipment listings should be on site and reachable. Inspectors routinely verify that installed equipment matches what was approved, and that the labels are the ones the plan set promised.

• Is there a published inspection checklist? No — Nassau has no published PV-specific inspection checklist. It does publish a general 'One and Two Family Dwelling Inspection Checklist,' but that document is dated Revised May 2018 and still cites the 6th Edition (2017) FBC and 2014 NEC — two code cycles out of date — and covers only footings/slab/framing/insulation/final, with nothing on electrical or solar 75% · county inspection checklist (dated/stale)
• What must be on site at inspection? Approved plans and the permit placard/documents posted at the job site for every required inspection 80% · department procedure notice
• Does the inspector verify labels and listings? Likely yes, as part of the generic final-inspection standard, but not stated as a PV-specific checklist item 58% · department inspection types list (inferred)

Passing gives you a final or an equivalent sign-off. That is not the same as permission to operate: PTO comes from the utility, and who tells the utility the inspection passed varies. A system left switched off for weeks is usually waiting on this handover.

• What is issued on pass? Final (a completed electrical/building final inspection sign-off) rather than a Certificate of Occupancy — a CO is issued only for new construction/occupancy changes, and a PV retrofit on an existing home does not create a new occupancy 58% · department inspection types list (inferred)
• Who notifies the utility for PTO? Installer/owner — Nassau's own ordinance frames utility connection as something the applicant must arrange after the County's release, not something the County itself initiates with the utility 50% · county ordinance/bulletin (OCR'd)
• Is there a re-inspection fee? $25 first failed inspection; $50 second failed inspection; $200 each subsequent failed inspection 90% · fee schedule