Texas · Irving
Solar in Irving: your export credit lives in a retail contract
Written by the Solar Learning Lab research deskUpdated August 30, 202612 min read
Nobody in Irving is required to pay you for surplus solar. That is not pessimism, it is the actual legal structure. Oncor owns the wires, a retail electric provider sends your bill, and Texas law only says a REP may agree to buy your excess. The homeowners who do well here are the ones who treat the buyback plan as a purchase decision with its own paperwork, made on Power to Choose before the panels go up, not discovered on the first bill after.
The rest of the Irving picture is friendlier than that opening suggests. The city routes residential solar through a flagged third party path tied to SolarAPP+, the permit itself runs through an online portal, and two state statutes quietly protect the investment once it is on the roof. This page walks each piece with the source next to the claim.
Price the plan before the panels
Our estimator uses the Irving production run and a documented 2024 Texas retail average. Start there, then pressure test it against a real buyback offer.
Open the Irving estimatorTwo words in the Utilities Code run the whole deal
Texas Utilities Code Section 39.916 defines distributed renewable generation as customer-sited renewable generation up to 2,000 kW and gives you the right to request interconnection through the utility. What it does not give you is a right to be paid for exports. Subsection (h) says a retail electric provider "may contract" with a system owner to purchase surplus electricity. May. Not must.
In practice that means the same array on the same Irving roof can produce very different returns depending on which retail plan sits behind the meter. One plan credits exports near the energy rate, another pays a fixed low rate, a third pays nothing at all. The statute leaves all three outcomes legal.
So the honest framing for Irving is this: interconnection is a right, compensation is a negotiation. Get the negotiation done first.
Power to Choose has a buyback finder. Use it before you sign anything.
The city itself points residents to Power to Choose, the PUC of Texas shopping site, for retail providers. Less known: the site runs a renewable buyback finder. Enter your ZIP and it lists companies that will purchase excess renewable energy, and it tells customers whose provider is not listed to contact that provider directly about the sale of distributed renewable generation. Results are ZIP specific and shift as REPs revise offers, so pull them fresh when you are actually deciding.
For price context, EIA Table 6 for 2024 shows the two biggest Texas retail marketers, Reliant at 17.38 cents per kWh across 1,548,250 residential customers and TXU Energy at 18.70 cents across 1,446,391. Weighted across all 57 Texas retail power marketers in the table, the residential average works out to 16.66 cents. There is no single Irving rate to quote because Oncor, the delivery company, books no bundled retail sales.
| Energy source | Type | Average price | What that means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reliant Energy Retail Services | 2024 residential average | 17.38¢ per kWh | EIA Table 6, 1,548,250 customers |
| TXU Energy Retail Co | 2024 residential average | 18.70¢ per kWh | EIA Table 6, 1,446,391 customers |
| All TX retail power marketers | 2024 weighted average | 16.66¢ per kWh | Computed from EIA Table 6 revenue and sales columns |
| Irving | PVGIS output | 1,550.8 kWh per kW annually | Fixed south facing model; individual roofs differ. |
EIA Table 6, 2024 Utility Bundled Retail Sales, Residential. Your plan price is on your Electricity Facts Label, not in a federal spreadsheet.
Oncor moves the electrons. It never sends your bill.
Irving sits in Oncor Electric Delivery territory. The city's own pages say so twice over: streetlights are owned and maintained by Oncor, and the Other Utilities and Services page routes outage reports and downed lines to Oncor as the local wires company. That same page still carries the label TXU Electric Delivery, which was Oncor's corporate name before 2007. Do not let the fossil confuse you. TXU Energy today is one REP among dozens; Oncor is the delivery utility for everyone.
For interconnection, Oncor requires installers to register and submit projects through its installer portal. The homeowner never files that paperwork. Your two jobs are narrower: confirm your installer actually handles the Oncor submission, and confirm your chosen plan credits exports before the system is energized. A system that gets switched on under a plan with no buyback clause donates its surplus to the grid.
Permits run through MGO, with one clock worth knowing
The city's Fees and Forms page lists a Solar Panel permit type with a five word job description: "Required to install solar panels." The application itself goes through the My Government Online portal, where contractors and homeowners apply, pay, correspond with the city, download approved plans, and schedule inspections. MGO has its own help line at (866) 957-3764 if the software fights you.
The Inspections Department also flags a path most cities do not have: its page lists "3rd Party Backup Power (& SolarAPP+)" with the descriptor "For residential solar and generators." That is the city's own signal that residential PV runs through a third party automated review lane tied to SolarAPP+, alongside the standard MGO machinery.
Practical details that bite: same day inspection scheduling closes at 6 a.m., Monday through Friday, and nobody inspects on weekends. If you plan to pull the permit yourself as an owner-builder, Irving requires a homestead exemption on file with the Dallas Central Appraisal District first, a rule the city applies to residential permits generally though not to roof permits. And no fetched city page publishes the solar permit fee in dollars; the Consolidated Fee Schedule is the reference and MGO shows the amount at application, so budget for a number you will learn inside the portal. The department is not idle, for what it is worth: 28,154 building related inspections in FY24.
Your drawings meet the 2024 codes now
Permits filed today are reviewed under the 2024 I-Codes with Irving local amendments, effective May 1, 2026. Systems permitted between April 22, 2024 and that date went in under the 2023 NEC, and the 2021 I-Codes governed from February 2023. This matters when you buy a house with existing panels: the code edition stamped on the old permit tells you what standard the installation was actually checked against, which is a cleaner question to ask than "is it up to code."
Two statutes protect the system after the ink dries
Texas Tax Code Section 11.27 exempts from property taxation the appraised value that arises from installing a solar or wind powered energy device used primarily for on-site energy production. Your array raises what the house is worth without raising what the county taxes. Subsection (a-1) even extends the exemption when the device owner is not the property owner.
On the HOA front, Property Code Section 202.010 says an association may not prohibit or restrict a solar energy device, and a deed provision that tries is void. The association keeps narrow levers: it can bar panels that extend higher than or beyond the roofline, and it can steer placement to a designated area unless your preferred spot beats it by more than 10 percent in estimated annual production, measured with a publicly available NREL modeling tool. Bring the model output to the architectural committee, not an argument.
What Irving does not have: a state income tax credit (Texas has no income tax), a confirmed local or Oncor residential rebate, and, since December 31, 2025, the federal 25D homeowner credit, which P.L. 119-21 ended for expenditures after 2025. Anyone quoting you a 30 percent federal discount on a 2026 purchase is working from a stale script.
The sun curve peaks in August, right when ERCOT prices do
Our Irving PVGIS run models 1,550.8 kWh per installed kW per year. August leads at 148.3 kWh per kW, with June and July close behind, and December bottoms out at 104.9. That late summer peak lines up with the most expensive weeks on a Texas bill, which is exactly the shape you want when your savings come from avoided retail kWh rather than a guaranteed export rate.
August models 148.3 kWh per kW, the annual high, landing in the heart of Texas cooling season.
PVGIS v5.2 model run by Solar Learning Lab on August 30, 2026, NSRDB radiation database. Fixed south facing mount, 30 degree tilt, 14 percent losses, downtown Irving coordinates. Your roof will differ. Tool documentation at PVGIS.
Installers working Irving rooftops
Irving is a renter-heavy city: ACS 2023 puts owner occupancy at 38.3 percent of 94,252 households, with 42.9 percent of the stock single family. The owned single family roofs that do exist are served by a Dallas County bench with real volume behind it. When you interview, make each company answer three Irving specific questions: which buyback plan they assume in their savings projection, who files the Oncor installer portal submission, and whether the permit goes through MGO or the SolarAPP+ lane.
Ratings snapshot: Google Maps, August 2026, via the DataForSEO SERP feed. Zero companies paid us and none are endorsed by us.
Dawn to Dusk Solar Texas
Carrollton, TX
4.6(204 Google reviews)
Divine Energy Solar
Dallas, TX
4.9(73 Google reviews)
Ratings and review counts are Google Maps ratings for Irving local results, retrieved August 17, 2026 via the DataForSEO SERP API. We list the highest rated established companies we found. No company paid to appear here, and appearing here is not an endorsement. Check current reviews and licensing before you sign anything.
Run your own numbers, then argue with them
The calculator below pairs our Irving production run with the 16.66 cent weighted 2024 average across Texas retail marketers. It cannot know your plan's energy charge or its export credit, and in this market those two numbers decide the outcome. Treat the output as a sizing tool and a lie detector for quotes, not a promise.
The top of the range is our south facing Irving model; the lower bound plans for a roof at 85 percent of that. Your REP plan decides what an exported kWh is worth, which this slider cannot know.
Cash quotes in Irving cluster near $2.21 per watt, against a $3.50 national 2024 median (LBNL). Use your quote.
Assumptions you can change
Use the rate on your actual lease or PPA quote. There is no published statewide average we trust enough to hardcode.
Cash purchase
$16,796 after state credit
- Year 1 benefit
- $164/mo
- Payback
- 8 years
- 20 year net position
- $30,854
There is no 25D federal credit for a 2026 purchase and Texas has no state income tax to credit against. An owned Irving system earns its keep through avoided REP charges, the Section 11.27 property tax exemption, and whichever buyback plan you pick on Power to Choose.
Solar loan
$233/mo 15 yr payment
- Year 1 net
- -$69/mo
- Upfront
- $0
- 20 year net position
- $5,721
Financed pricing starts from the EnergySage Texas cash figure plus the LBNL loan-over-cash spread built into our Texas model. Dealer fees hide inside the rate, so compare total cost, not the monthly payment.
Lease / PPA
$0 down you buy the power
- Year 1 net
- -$72/mo
- Upfront
- $0
- 20 year net position
- -$17,695
Under third party ownership the provider controls the equipment while your REP contract controls the export value. Read the escalator and ask what happens to buyback credits before you sign anything that outlives two plan renewals.
Estimates, not quotes. Production comes from our Irving PVGIS run and the rate is a 2024 weighted average across Texas retail power marketers, not your specific plan. Buyback terms vary by REP and can change at renewal. We are a solar installer and we also partner with other solar companies. See our disclosures.
Irving questions with sourced answers
Does Irving have net metering?
Who do I call about an outage, my REP or Oncor?
What permit does a rooftop system need?
Can I pull the permit and do the work myself?
Can my HOA veto the installation?
Document trail
Every claim on this page traces to one of these sources, reviewed August 30, 2026. Where the city publishes no figure, we said so instead of inventing one.
- Irving Inspections Department, residential permits, fees and forms, MGO portal instructions, inspection counters, and adopted codes
- City utilities directory and Oncor DER interconnection page
- Texas Utilities Code 39.916, Tax Code 11.27, and Property Code 202.010
- Power to Choose buyback finder, EIA Table 6, CRS IN12611 on the 25D repeal, Irving background, and Census ACS 2023
Get an Irving quote built on a named plan
Ask every bidder to write the assumed REP plan into the proposal. We are a solar installer and we also partner with other solar companies. Read our disclosures.
What does your monthly electric bill look like?
Irving average is $167 per month (EIA, 2024).