Original research
Solar interconnection wait times by utility
Application-to-approval days for every residential solar system California’s three investor-owned utilities connected, 2016 to August 2026.
The finding
Solar Interconnection Wait Times by Utility is an original HyreSolar dataset built from named public sources, with the method and a downloadable file. In 2025, the median California residential solar system waited 16 days at PG&E, 31 at SCE and 29 at SDG&E between the utility receiving its interconnection application and approving it to operate.
That is roughly double the 2021–2022 norm at SCE and SDG&E, and a quarter or more of systems at every utility still take over a month.
The 2023 spike to 124 days at SCE was not slow processing: it was the backlog of applications filed before California’s NEM 2.0 deadline being built out and approved months later.
Key findings
Median 16 days from application to approval; SDG&E 29; SCE 31.
37% of PG&E systems took over 30 days; 50% of SCE systems took over 30 days; 49% of SDG&E systems took over 30 days.
PG&E’s 75th percentile was 54 days, SCE’s 75th percentile was 88 days, SDG&E’s 75th percentile was 69 days. A homeowner in the slowest quarter waits two to three months.
Medians jumped to 84 (PG&E), 124 (SCE) and 94 (SDG&E) days, because applications lodged before the 14 April 2023 NEM 2.0 deadline were built and approved over the following months.
Against 2022, the 2025 median is PG&E 12 → 16, SCE 10 → 31, SDG&E 6 → 29 days.
The series, utility by utility
From 2016 to 2022 the median residential system in California moved from application to approval in under two weeks at every investor-owned utility. Then the line breaks.
The 2023 spike lines up with the NEM 2.0 deadline. Customers who submitted a complete interconnection application by 14 April 2023 kept the older, more generous tariff, and had up to three years to finish installation.
Hundreds of thousands did. When those systems were later built and approved, each carried an application date from early 2023, so the measured span includes months of construction queue rather than utility review.
Application-to-approval days by utility and year
| Utility | Year | Systems approved | Median days | 25th pct | 75th pct | Over 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG&E | 2016 | 60,007 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 5% |
| PG&E | 2017 | 48,662 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 13% |
| PG&E | 2018 | 52,842 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 15% |
| PG&E | 2019 | 60,162 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 12% |
| PG&E | 2020 | 62,080 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 19% |
| PG&E | 2021 | 80,377 | 12 | 8 | 28 | 23% |
| PG&E | 2022 | 111,596 | 12 | 6 | 26 | 22% |
| PG&E | 2023 | 120,188 | 84 | 19 | 134 | 70% |
| PG&E | 2024 | 71,008 | 18 | 6 | 86 | 40% |
| PG&E | 2025 | 70,196 | 16 | 6 | 54 | 37% |
| PG&E | 2026 (Jan–Aug) | 42,477 | 25 | 5 | 69 | 45% |
| SCE | 2016 | 45,614 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 17% |
| SCE | 2017 | 37,692 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 15% |
| SCE | 2018 | 38,908 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 14% |
| SCE | 2019 | 41,420 | 7 | 1 | 26 | 22% |
| SCE | 2020 | 42,463 | 14 | 4 | 47 | 33% |
| SCE | 2021 | 60,839 | 8 | 1 | 36 | 28% |
| SCE | 2022 | 96,462 | 10 | 2 | 34 | 27% |
| SCE | 2023 | 108,656 | 124 | 56 | 177 | 85% |
| SCE | 2024 | 65,818 | 48 | 9 | 293 | 56% |
| SCE | 2025 | 60,166 | 31 | 7 | 88 | 50% |
| SCE | 2026 (Jan–Aug) | 39,954 | 13 | 4 | 58 | 36% |
| SDG&E | 2016 | 26,504 | 11 | 5 | 28 | 23% |
| SDG&E | 2017 | 16,360 | 7 | 3 | 26 | 21% |
| SDG&E | 2018 | 21,162 | 6 | 2 | 15 | 14% |
| SDG&E | 2019 | 28,023 | 6 | 3 | 23 | 20% |
| SDG&E | 2020 | 25,073 | 5 | 2 | 20 | 17% |
| SDG&E | 2021 | 24,858 | 6 | 2 | 24 | 22% |
| SDG&E | 2022 | 35,197 | 6 | 2 | 30 | 25% |
| SDG&E | 2023 | 42,380 | 94 | 38 | 163 | 78% |
| SDG&E | 2024 | 17,799 | 43 | 6 | 323 | 55% |
| SDG&E | 2025 | 15,708 | 29 | 7 | 69 | 49% |
| SDG&E | 2026 (Jan–Aug) | 7,941 | 33 | 8 | 71 | 52% |
Residential photovoltaic systems, grouped by the year the utility approved them. HyreSolar calculation from California DG Stats Interconnected Project Sites (PG&E, SCE, SDG&E), retrieved 22 October 2026.
Spans below zero or above 730 days are dropped as data-entry errors; that removes well under 1% of rows in every utility-year.
How often a homeowner waits more than a month
A median hides the tail. The share of systems taking more than 30 days is the number a homeowner budgeting for a first bill should look at, because during that wait the panels are installed but not allowed to run.
Before the deadline and now
Comparing 2025 with 2022, the last year untouched by the deadline rush, shows the wait settling at a higher level, not snapping back.
Method
Source
The California Distributed Generation Statistics “Interconnected Project Sites” file, published on the CPUC-sponsored DG Stats site and refreshed monthly. Our copy is dated 31 August 2026 and was downloaded on 22 October 2026.
Inclusion
Customer Sector “Residential” and a Technology Type containing “Photovoltaic”. Duplicate Application IDs across the historical and current files are counted once. Systems are grouped by the year of the App Approved Date.
Measure
Days between App Received Date and App Approved Date. Spans below zero or above 730 days are discarded. Percentiles are linear-interpolated.
What it is not
It is not pure utility review time. Many applications are filed before installation, so the span includes construction and inspection. It covers only PG&E, SCE and SDG&E; municipal utilities such as LADWP and SMUD are not in the file. It says nothing about utilities outside California.
Embed this finding
Paste this snippet into any page or CMS that accepts HTML. It carries the figure, the underlying source and a link back to the method, so the number travels with its conditions.
<figure style="border:1px solid #ddd;padding:12px;margin:0;font:15px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">
<p style="margin:0 0 6px"><strong>Median wait from solar interconnection application to approval in 2025: PG&E 16 days, SCE 31 days, SDG&E 29 days.</strong></p>
<figcaption style="font-size:13px;color:#555">Source: <a href="https://hyresolar.com/research/interconnection-timelines/">HyreSolar, Solar interconnection wait times by utility</a> (California DG Stats Interconnected Project Sites (PG&E, SCE, SDG&E), retrieved 22 October 2026).</figcaption>
</figure>Charts on this page may be reproduced with the same attribution. The rows behind them are in interconnection-timelines.csv.
Citation, reuse and corrections
How to cite this study
Full citation. HyreSolar Research, “Solar interconnection wait times by utility”, October 2026. Analysis of California DG Stats Interconnected Project Sites (PG&E, SCE, SDG&E), retrieved 22 October 2026. Available at https://hyresolar.com/research/interconnection-timelines/
In a chart or table. “Source: HyreSolar analysis of California DG Stats interconnection data (2026)”.
Reproducing it
Download the zip from the DG Stats downloads page, then run docs/research-data/cadgstats/extract_cadg.py from this site’s repository. The summary rows are in interconnection-timelines.csv. The raw file (1.3 GB unzipped) is not mirrored here.
What you may reuse
The source file is public. Our derived medians, charts and tables may be reproduced with attribution and a link to this page (CC BY 4.0).
Corrections and updates
Errors are corrected on the page with a dated note. DG Stats refreshes its file monthly; we rebuild this study at least annually at the same URL.
Questions
How long does solar interconnection take in California?
Why did wait times jump in 2023?
Can I turn my system on before approval?
Does this cover my utility?
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