Solar in Detroit
Detroit's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) bills solar by the inspection visit. Its fee schedule, effective January 1, 2024, lists $165 per visit for a system with no utility-grid connection and $278 per inverter connection per visit for one tied to the grid, and each later installation inspection visit is $176. Because the grid-tied line counts inverter connections, ask how many your plan has. BSEED's number, per the city's page, is 313-224-2372.
Detroit licenses its own trades, too. LARA says Detroit issues its own licenses and registrations, so ask BSEED whether a state electrical contractor license is enough before anyone starts. Only DTE Electric (800-477-4747) has territory on the MPSC map that reaches Detroit, though your address is still worth checking with DTE. Under its Rider 18, power you draw is charged at the retail rate, power you send out is credited at the power supply rate, and the excess goes into a bank whose credits don't expire and can't be withdrawn.
DTE's Level 1 or Level 2 application is $50. BSEED's per-visit charges are the city's, separate from the installer's price, and the quote you accept should list them on their own lines.
What solar costs near Detroit
We haven't collected solar quotes from Detroit, so this page gives no city price. The statewide estimates are on each service page, and the Michigan page lists them with what solar installers are paid ($24.29 an hour in BLS data for May 2025, which is pay, not price), the printed city permit fees and the utility application fees. How we estimate costs.
Licenses and permits for solar in Detroit
The state rule is MCL 339.5737(1): a license is required for the business of electrical contracting, and MCL 339.5701's definition of electrical wiring covers generating equipment. In Detroit, ask BSEED which license it accepts, and get the number in writing.
Solar jobs in Detroit
More on Michigan solar
How to check a solar installer's license · How solar permits work in Michigan: the license, the city permit and the utility application
Sources for Detroit
- Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED), City of Detroit Read Oct 23, 2026. One caveat: read the source yourself before you rely on the details.
- City of Detroit BSEED Fee Schedule (effective January 1, 2024; file dated March 31, 2025) Read Oct 23, 2026.
- MPSC electric utility service area Read Oct 23, 2026. Confirm with the source before you rely on it.
- DTE Electric Generator Interconnection Procedures, Levels 1 and 2 (July 1, 2026) Read Oct 23, 2026.
- DTE Electric: Rooftop Solar Distributed Generation Rider 18 letter Read Oct 23, 2026.
- LARA: Electrical Examination, Licensing/Registration & Application Information Read Oct 23, 2026.
- MCL 339.5737 (legislature.mi.gov) Read Oct 23, 2026.
- MCL 339.5701 definitions (legislature.mi.gov) Read Oct 23, 2026.