Solar for Boston homeowners & businesses.
East Coast Solar designs, installs, and stands behind residential and commercial solar in Boston and the surrounding area. Locally owned, personally accountable.
Yes. East Coast Solar installs rooftop solar, battery storage, ground-mount systems, and EV chargers in Boston, Massachusetts. We're a Worcester-based, locally owned solar installer covering all of Massachusetts. Our in-house team handles design, permitting, installation, and service, and we've worked with the utilities and building departments in Boston before. To get a free, no-obligation estimate for your Boston property, request one online or call (508) 784-1118.
Why Boston homeowners are going solar.
Boston is home to some of our largest commercial installations and a growing portfolio of residential projects across the city's neighborhoods. From multi-unit rooftops in Brighton to flat-roof commercial buildings in Dorchester and Roxbury, we handle the complexity that comes with installing solar in the city.
Boston's dense urban environment presents unique opportunities and constraints for solar. Many of our Boston projects are commercial rooftops, where flat roofs and high electricity usage make solar exceptionally productive. Eversource rates in Boston are among the highest in the state, which shortens payback periods substantially. On the residential side, Boston's mix of triple-deckers, row houses, and single-family homes all support solar with the right design approach. We have real experience working with Boston's Inspectional Services Department and Eversource's interconnection requirements, which are more rigorous than suburban MA.
What installing solar in Boston actually involves.
What Boston roofs are actually like
Boston's roofs change character every few blocks. Roughly 15,000 triple-deckers went up across Boston and its neighbors between 1880 and 1930, and the roof form still tracks the neighborhood that built them. South Boston's are mostly flat, Roxbury's are pitched, and Dorchester has both. Back Bay, Beacon Hill and the South End are brick and brownstone rowhouses with mansards and parapets, where the only workable plane is usually the one nobody on the sidewalk can see. Brighton, Hyde Park and West Roxbury read more like the rest of eastern Massachusetts, with detached houses and straightforward gable roofs. Downtown, the Seaport, and the industrial edges of Dorchester and Roxbury are flat membrane roofs, the type best suited to a ballasted commercial array.
Permitting in Boston
Permits run through the Inspectional Services Department, and Boston sorts solar into two tracks. A one or two family home under the city's 20 kW cutoff can use the Short Form path. Anything at or above that, or any building with three or more units, goes Long Form with stamped plans showing roof layout and emergency access. Either way the city asks for a structural engineer's roof condition report, and the electrical permit is pulled separately by a contractor holding a valid Massachusetts trade license. If the property sits in one of the nine local historic districts, a certificate has to be issued before ISD will release a building permit. Beacon Hill is the strictest: its guidelines state that solar panels must be installed so they are not visible from a public way. The Back Bay commission reviews alterations that are not visible from the street at all, and treats exterior conduit as inappropriate, which changes how a system gets routed long before anyone touches a rail.
Your utility in Boston
Eversource is the investor-owned utility here, and it stays responsible for delivery, interconnection and net metering credits no matter who sells you the electricity. Most Boston households buy supply through Boston Community Choice Electricity, the city's municipal aggregation, which offers three plans with rates locked through December 2027 and Direct Energy as the supplier. Over 200,000 households and businesses are enrolled. Because net metering is administered by Eversource rather than by the supplier, your plan choice moves the supply line of the bill and not the credits an array earns. For commercial owners the bigger lever is BERDO: residential buildings with 15 or more units and non-residential buildings of 20,000 square feet or larger report annual energy and water use and must meet declining emissions caps, with renewable energy one of the recognized compliance pathways.
Local programs worth knowing about
Rebates, rates and caps change over time. Confirm current terms with the provider before relying on a figure.
Solar Loan Pilot Program
A City of Boston pilot offering a 0% interest loan of up to $25,000 for residential solar to owner-occupants of 1 to 4 family Boston homes with household income at or below 135% of Area Median Income and under $100,000 in financial assets. The loan is fully forgiven after 20 years of continuous owner-occupancy. The pilot is sized for 20 households, so availability is worth confirming with the Boston Home Center before you plan around it.
Boston Community Choice Electricity
Boston's municipal aggregation program. It sets the supply rate on your Eversource bill across three plan options, with rates locked through December 2027 and Direct Energy as the supplier. Eversource remains the delivery utility and continues to administer net metering.
Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO)
Applies to residential buildings with 15 or more units and non-residential buildings of 20,000 square feet or more. Covered owners report energy and water use annually through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and must meet emissions standards that tighten over time. On-site and procured renewable energy count toward compliance.
Sources for the Boston details above
- https://www.boston.gov/boston-permitting/install-or-replace/install-or-replace-solar-panels
- https://www.boston.gov/departments/landmarks-commission/map-boston-historic-landmarks-and-districts
- https://www.boston.gov/departments/landmarks-commission/our-work-landmarks-commission
- https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/Beacon%20Hill%20Architectural%20Commission%20Guidelines_tcm3-17489.pdf
- https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/Back%20Bay%20Guidelines%20for%20the%20Residential%20District_tcm3-13458.pdf
- https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/file/2022/12/BBAC%20Commercial%20Guidelines_Updated%202019.pdf
- https://www.boston.gov/departments/environment/berdo
- https://www.boston.gov/departments/environment/community-choice-electricity
- https://www.boston.gov/departments/housing/solar-loan-pilot-program
- https://www.bostonpreservation.org/news-item/short-history-bostons-triple-deckers
Solar incentives for Boston residents.
Boston residents have access to Massachusetts' exceptional solar incentive programs, making solar one of the best home investments available:
- SMART Program: monthly payments based on your system's energy production
- Net Metering: credits for excess electricity sent back to the grid
- 15% Massachusetts State Tax Credit (up to $1,000)
- Property Tax Exemption: solar doesn't increase your property taxes
- Sales Tax Exemption: no sales tax on solar equipment
Boston, MA
40 miles from Worcester
East Coast Solar headquarters: 22 Dallas Street #2, Worcester, MA 01604
Solar in Boston, answered.
- Do you install solar panels in Boston, MA?
- Yes. East Coast Solar installs residential and commercial solar in Boston. Our crew is based in Worcester, 40 miles away. We handle design, permitting, installation, and service in-house, with no subcontractors.
- What's the average electricity rate in Boston?
- Boston homes are served by Eversource, with residential rates typically in the $0.28 to $0.33 per kWh range as of 2025. These are among the highest electricity rates in the United States, which is the main reason solar payback in Massachusetts is shorter than the national average.
- What solar incentives are available in Boston?
- Boston residents qualify for the Massachusetts incentive stack: the SMART production-based incentive, net metering through Eversource, the 15% MA state tax credit (up to $1,000), and exemptions from property and sales tax on the solar system itself. Federal tax treatment has changed with recent legislation and depends on whether the project is residential or commercial, so we walk through what currently applies to your project during the estimate.
- How long does a solar installation take in Boston?
- Most Boston residential installations take 4 to 8 weeks from signed contract to system activation. The on-site rooftop install itself is one to two days. The rest of the timeline is engineering, permitting with the Boston building department, and the utility interconnection process with Eversource.
- Can I put solar on a Boston triple-decker?
- Yes, and it is one of the more common residential jobs in the city. Plan on the Long Form permit rather than the Short Form, because Boston routes any building with three or more units through the longer path with stamped plans covering roof layout and emergency access. The design question that comes first is metering. A triple-decker usually has three separate Eversource accounts plus a house meter, and net metering credits follow the meter the array is tied to, so the owner and the tenants need to agree up front which account the system offsets. Roof form matters too. South Boston triple-deckers are mostly flat and take a ballasted or low-tilt array, while Roxbury's pitched roofs take conventional flush mounting.
- My building is in a Boston historic district. Is solar off the table?
- Not off the table, but the roof plane you can use narrows considerably. Boston has nine local historic district commissions, and the districts they cover include Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the South End, Bay Village, Fort Point Channel, Mission Hill Triangle, St. Botolph, Aberdeen and Highland Park. Each issues a certificate that has to be in hand before Inspectional Services will release the building permit. The Beacon Hill guidelines are explicit that solar panels have to be installed so they are not visible from a public way, which in practice means a rear roof plane set well behind a parapet. Back Bay is stricter still, because that commission reviews changes that are not visible from the street and considers exterior conduit inappropriate, so the conduit route has to be planned inside the building. The workable answer in these districts is usually a low-profile array on a flat upper roof, kept close to the deck and grouped toward the center.
- Does rooftop solar help my Boston building comply with BERDO?
- It can. BERDO covers residential buildings with 15 or more units and non-residential buildings of 20,000 square feet or more, and compliance is measured against a declining greenhouse gas emissions cap rather than against energy use alone. Renewable energy is one of the recognized pathways, and the city publishes a solar reporting guide and a solar exemption request form specifically for reporting on-site generation. For a flat-roof property in the Seaport, Dorchester or Roxbury, an array is often the most durable move available, since it reduces reported emissions every year rather than for a single compliance period the way purchased renewable energy certificates do.