Israel requires PV systems on new residential, commercial buildings

Israel has introduced requirements for PV system installations on all new non-residential buildings with rooftop areas above 250 square meters and new detached residential buildings with roofs larger than 100 square meters.

The Israeli government has introduced a regulation requiring PV system installations on all new non-residential buildings with roof areas above 250 square meters and on new detached residential buildings with roofs larger than 100 square meters.

“We intend to work to expand the regulations in the future, so that in every residential building, and every structure where this is possible, a system for generating and storing electricity from renewable energies will be established,” said Israeli Minister of Energy Eli Cohen. 

The government said residential buildings must install PV systems with a minimum capacity of 5 kW. The new rules also require preparations for PV installation on new residential buildings with rooftop areas exceeding 250 square meters.

“The historic regulation will reshape Israel's rooftops,” Eitan Parnass, the founder and director of Israel’s Green Energy Association, told pv magazine. “Israel was the first country that embraced compulsory solar legislation for water heaters, as a response to the 1970s energy crisis and today some 4% of its electricity is saved using solar water heaters. The new regulation is expected to do just the same but this time generating electricity and harvesting the sun 330 days a year.”

The new provisions aim to complement the recently launched 100,000 Solar Roofs Program, which targets adding 1.6 GW of solar capacity by 2030.

“These new regulations will lead to the construction of tens of thousands of additional photovoltaic installations, with a total installed capacity of approximately 3,500 MW by 2040,” said Cohen.

The Israeli government has set a goal of generating 30% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Following the installation of approximately 900 MW of new solar capacity in 2024, the country’s total solar capacity reached 5.36 GW by the end of December 2024.