Do I need a permit to install solar panels in Lebanon, and what happened to the September 2026 decision?

Also asked as: “Solar Lebanon permit” · “Decision 1234 solar panels Lebanon” · “Do I need municipality approval for solar panels in Lebanon?” · “Was the September 2026 solar decision cancelled?”

What the September 2026 decision said#

Joint Decision No. 1234 of 9 September 2026 (below 1.5 MW)^[1,2,3] was signed by the Ministers of Interior and Municipalities, Public Works and Transport, and Energy and Water. It was meant to apply only until the electricity regulator issued its own procedures. You applied to the municipality, or to the qaimaqam where a town has no municipality. The file needed a form, liability statements from a structural engineer and an electrical or electromechanical engineer registered with the Order of Engineers, an easement and planning certificate from the Directorate General of Urban Planning, and the Order's approved form^[1,2].

According to Al-Modon, the municipality or qaimaqam had 15 days to decide, and silence counted as acceptance once the due municipal fees were paid^[1]. No fee amount was published in what we read. Also according to Al-Modon, a tenant or occupant who applied needed the unit owner's consent. For panels on a building's shared parts, the decision asked for a map of where the panels go and how the roof is divided among owners, approved by the owners' association, or by 75% of owners where there is no association^[1,2].

The decision also set height limits. Roof panels could rise above the top roof by at most 3 m (building under 15 m), 4.5 m (over 15 m)^[1,2], and never above the stairwell cage. Ground panels were capped at 2 m at the top and 40 cm at the lower edge, and anything beyond the limits would count as a metal structure under the building law.

Why it was dropped, and who regulates now#

IMLebanon reported on 12 September 2026 that the Council of Ministers had agreed the day before to drop Decision 1234, and referred solar systems below 1.5 MW to the National Authority for Regulating the Electricity Sector^[2,3,4]. The Prime Minister's office said the grounds for the decision had lapsed. The municipal application, the 15-day rule, the height limits and the consent rules above are therefore no longer in force.

The Energy Ministry said the decision had only been interim, pending the regulator's procedures under Art. 26 of the electricity sector law. It added that some documents, such as engineering certificates and the easement and planning certificate, were already required before the decision^[3]. The ministry did not say which earlier rule requires them, and we found no text that does.

The decision drew criticism over cost. A Lebanon24 opinion piece (18 September 2026) argued that solar regulation should not become a way to collect fees and proposed free or low-cost electronic registration. MP Bilal Hashimi said the state should not become "a machine for fees, taxes and paperwork"^[2,4]. Neither view is a rule in force.

What this means for you in October 2026#

Nobody has confirmed whether you need a permit or a municipal application today. Our sources name no confirmed solar tax or municipal fee as of October 2026^[1]; more in is there a tax or fee on solar panels. If you subscribe to a private generator, the Energy Ministry's September 2026 notice bars the generator owner from charging extra because you also use solar^[5].

In an apartment building, the top roofs are common parts under the co-ownership decree^[6,7]. The owners' association may install necessary or useful equipment by at least 75% of the owners' votes. No source says this rule covers solar panels. That is our reading, and a lawyer should confirm it. See solar panels on a shared roof.

Before any paperwork, check the roof itself. Andira al-Zuhairi, head of the Lebanese Real Estate Authority, said a roof's structural capacity and fixing method should be checked first, especially on old or damaged buildings, and a Lebanon24 writer flagged roof loads, wiring, fire protection and battery quality^[3,4]. Selling surplus power to the grid is a separate question under Law No. 318/2023 (14 December 2023)^[4,8]; see net metering with EDL.