A new law in New Jersey exempts solar panels from zoning limitations on impervious cover (i.e., driveways, buildings, and other surfaces that prevent water from absorbing into the ground). The law specifically applies to the various laws relating to municipal land use, stormwater management, waterfront and coastal development, the Pinelands, and the Highlands, including agricultural development therein. The new law also defines “solar panel” as “an elevated panel or plate, or a canopy or array thereof, that captures and converts solar radiation to produce power, and includes flat plate, focusing solar collectors, or photovoltaic solar cells and excludes the base or foundation of the panel, plate, canopy, or array.”
S.B. 921, P.L. 2010, ch. 4
The new law may be accessed here
