What if you want to get a solar system, but your house’s character is quaint and historic? Will the solar panels on the roof and extra wiring ruin the aesthetics of your old-fashioned home? Will you even be able to get permission from your town to do work on your older house? Despite all these concerns, you can still go solar even if you own a historic home – it all comes down to striking a balance between the home’s original charm and environmental sustainability. Here at Solaris, we’ve helped homeowners across Massachusetts and New Hampshire install solar on historic properties without compromising charm. Read on to see how we can do the same for your home.
What Determines a Historic Property?
You might be thinking, how do I know if my home is historic? According to the general definition, historic properties are typically at least 50 years old and possess some sort of architectural, cultural, or historical value or significance.
In New England specifically, it’s hard to estimate how many historical houses there are overall. However, the organization known as Historic New England owns and preserves 126 historic properties throughout the greater area, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that there are hundreds more that are privately owned. There are also areas in certain towns that are specifically deemed as “historic districts,” so that’s something to note as well.
Can You Install Solar Panels On A Historic Home?
It is absolutely feasible to install solar panels on your historic home. However, with that being said, there may be a few extra steps that you need to take prior to setting up your solar system in order to ensure that your plan is permitted by your town. These courses of action are listed in more detail below.
- Assess Historic Designation And Local Regulations
Before you carry out your solar dream on your older home, you should check first to see if your property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, or preserved by Historic New England. It’s important to check because these sorts of designations often impose stricter guidelines on exterior modifications to your home. You should also check with your town’s Historic District Commission or Planning Department, if your town has one, to see if you are living in a historic district. If so, there may be other necessary approvals that you need to get before beginning your solar project.
Here at Solaris, we will help you in this discovery process, confirming which designations apply to you, if any, and which permissions need to be acquired.
- Evaluate Roof Suitability
It’s very possible that the roofing on your older home might have more fragile architecture, consist of flimsy building materials, or have deteriorated from decades of weather. That’s why it’s important that you have your roof evaluated to ensure that it is in good enough condition to support the additional weight of solar panels.
We can evaluate your roof ourselves here at Solaris to determine if it’s strong enough for a solar system. If, for some reason, it’s not, we can help you explore solutions.
- Design Your Solar System Based On Historic Factors
With our assistance at Solaris Renewables, you’ll then need to start thinking about how you want your solar panels atop your home to look. Keep in mind that historical regulations will likely have an impact on what you can and can’t do.
Typically for homes with historic character, it is recommended to install low-profile solar panels that aren’t bulky and don’t draw a ton of attention in order to keep the historical features as the primary focus of the home. Black, sleek, monocrystalline solar panels are a great example of low-profile solar. It’s also important, of course, that these panels don’t physically cover any historical features of your home as well. Another suggestion if you have a historical home is to try to install your solar panels on a rear slope of your roof or anywhere that’s not as much in the direct view of the house from the street. Again, this is meant to maintain the historical integrity of the property as well as its old-fashioned charm while still moving towards clean energy.
Though these are all common factors to consider when installing solar in a historic district, each town or area usually has their own set of standards that they want you to abide by, so make sure you look into those specifics while designing.
- Submit Your Historic Solar Proposal
If you live in a historic district or own a historic home, there’s a good chance that you will first have to submit your solar system installation proposal to the Historic District Commission in your town or whatever other organization is in charge of monitoring these affairs. We will help you formulate this proposal and ensure that it’s written to its full potential. The Historic District Commission will then need to approve it before we can get to constructing.
- Attend Your Solar Hearing
Often, these approvals can require formal hearings or meetings. In Massachusetts, there is the Open Meeting Law, which means that anyone can come to your solar hearing. The hearing notice must be posted to the public at least 48 hours before it takes place. However, your abutters (the neighbors who directly border your property) will be notified two weeks ahead of the hearing so that they can plan in advance to attend, if they so wish.
Unlike major solar companies that aren’t as local and personal, here at Solaris Renewables, we like to send out a representative from our organization to join you at your hearing. We will help you with whatever you need – whether it’s comprehension, making your case, mental support, or all of the above.
Even if your solar case does not require a hearing, we will stay by your side until the review process is complete.
Once your solar proposal is approved, you will receive a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA).
- Be Patient During The Waiting Period
Usually, after your proposal is approved, the public is informed of your plans and there is a 10-day waiting window. This allows anyone time to object to your proposal, if they so wish.
- Apply For Permits
Once this waiting period is over, we will submit a building permit application on your behalf. Once that is approved, then, we are finally cleared to begin construction of your solar system.
Recent Laws Favoring The Historic Solar Process
Despite the current turbulent solar climate on a federal level, the state of Massachusetts has passed recent pieces of legislation aiming to establish Massachusetts’ pro-solar stance. These new laws are also allowing Historic District Commissions freedom to approve more historic solar projects and do it quicker. Some of these newer Massachusetts regulations are listed below.
Massachusetts Climate & Clean Energy Law (2024)
Under the new law, effective late 2024, Historic District Commissions are now required to “give substantial weight to the threat posed by climate change and to the Commonwealth’s obligation to meet statewide greenhouse gas emission limits” when reviewing solar applications in historic districts. This has created a presumption in favor of solar, enabling faster, more favorable decisions unless there’s clear historic harm.
Senate Bill S.1289
Passed in late 2024/early 2025, this bill has explicitly encouraged Historic District Commissions to approve solar panels that are not visible from public streets, balancing historic preservation with renewable energy needs.
Sunpin Energy Services v. ZBA of Petersham
As a result of this case, beginning on July 11, 2025, it was established that local zoning boards now have very limited discretion to deny solar projects that comply with bylaws. The passing of this has offered even more pro-solar momentum in Massachusetts and has allowed Historic District Commissions to speed up approval processes to protect solar.
Case Studies
Here at Solaris, we have installed solar panels on historic homes requiring Historic District Commission approval in Massachusetts towns such as Newton, Concord, Medford, and Yarmouth. We have done this in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as well. For all of these projects, we helped our clients check their designations, assisted them in submitting their proposals, and stayed with them throughout the review/hearing process until approval. Read on to learn more details about one particular historic installation on Cape Cod.
Yarmouth, MA Historic Home Solar Project
Background
In 2019, we were sought out to install solar panels on a home in Yarmouth, Massachusetts – a town known for its charm. The house is located in the Old King’s Highway Historic District, which was established in 1973 and is one of the largest historic districts in the nation, as it stretches from Sandwich all the way to Orleans. The district itself has its own Historical Commission that is responsible for overseeing any major changes regarding these properties. Since solar panels are a fairly significant appearance-related change, we knew that we would have to help guide our clients through the process of getting town approval to install their solar.
Initial Research And Outreach
In late April, we reached out to the Old King’s Highway Historical Commission to understand what would be required. They confirmed that the location of the home was in their district and then informed us of its strict design standards in place to preserve the historic look of the neighborhood.
According to the Historical Commission, solar panels in this area can not be visible from any public street and need to be black (or at least very dark). Interestingly enough, we noticed some nearby homes that had solar panels that didn’t follow these exact appearance standards, so we sought out clarification. The Historical Commission then confirmed that the main concern is to minimize visual impact, not necessarily to enforce strict color rules in every case. This gave us some flexibility to work with.
Preparing For Approval
Once we understood the standards, we helped our clients create a solar proposal for the Old King’s Highway Historical Commission. We made sure to come up with a submission that abided by all of the Historical Commission’s requests, including the plan to install minimally visible, black panels. We also made sure to take photos to demonstrate how the panels would be hidden from view and match the home’s aesthetic as much as possible.
We then filed the necessary paperwork and submitted our pictures by the May 22nd deadline in order to get on the agenda for the June 10th Historical Commission meeting.
Commission Meeting
Unlike larger solar companies who don’t have time to do these things, here at your local Solaris Renewables, we take pride in attending Historical Commission meetings alongside our clients to support them and help them make their case, if needed.
On June 10th, we attended our clients’ scheduled meeting where our application was reviewed. Ultimately, it was approved.
A few days later, the approval was officially stamped by the Town Clerk. We then had to endure a short, 10-day mandatory waiting period before obtaining our permits, allowing anyone from the public time to object to our proposal. Fortunately, there was no opposition and we were able to move forward.
Permit Approval
On June 18th, we printed the full permit package and handed it off to our team member who brought it to Yarmouth.
On June 24th, we officially submitted the permit application on behalf of our clients.
On June 27th, our permits were finally approved.
On July 9th, the permits were picked up and the project was officially cleared to begin installation.
Install Solar Panels On Your Historic Home Today
Just remember that, at Solaris Renewables, we are more than familiar with working on older homes. Throughout New England, historic houses rich with character and charm are all over the place. Just because you want solar panels on your historic property does not mean that it has to lose its quaint aesthetic or antique curb appeal. Your home’s unique style will be historically preserved while you simultaneously help our environment by switching to renewable energy. Furthermore, worrying about your town’s historic regulations doesn’t need to be a major concern either, as we will be there with you every step of the way.
Installation-wise, we are experts regarding low-profile solar panels that won’t stick out like a sore thumb. We sell and install those smooth, black Maxeon monocrystalline panels without any major grid lines or gaps in between. These panels won’t draw away any attention from the historical characteristics of your house and will fit in naturally with the existing architectural vibe. Additionally, we also pride ourselves on not having any extra wiring/conduit visible in plain sight.
So, are you ready to install solar on your historic New England property? If so, please check in with your local historical regulations and contact us today for a free quote. We will ensure that we design the best-suited solar system tailored to your historic home’s needs and acquire the proper permissions, all for a reasonable cost here at Solaris.