Solar panels in Brevard County, FL

• Contractors apply for Brevard County permits online through the county's Advanced Service Site (BASS), where anyone can look up permit records.
• About a third of FPL customers in Brevard County lost power during Hurricane Milton in October 2024, according to the Public Service Commission and WFIT.
• FPL's 2025 report to the Public Service Commission lists 13,760 customer-owned solar systems on its lines in Brevard County, 1,518 of them connected in 2025, by our count. See Florida solar by county.

Permits and zoning rules are set town by town. Highlights from each town's own rules:

• Cape Canaveral: After a 2019 sea level rise and storm surge assessment, Cape Canaveral adopted the Resilient Cape Canaveral Action Plan in 2021, which aims to power all city buildings and facilities with locally generated clean energy by 2035.
• Cocoa Beach: During Hurricane Milton on October 9, 2024, an EF1 tornado with winds of about 95 mph started as a waterspout and tracked 5.24 miles through Cocoa Beach, tearing partial roofs off homes on Bimini Road and St. Croix Avenue and bringing down power lines.
• Grant-Valkaria: The Town of Grant-Valkaria runs its own building department, and permit applications filed since December 31, 2023 must meet the 8th edition (2023) Florida Building Code. Contractors apply online.
• Indialantic: Hurricane Irma spun up an EF1 tornado in Indialantic on September 10, 2017, and pushed 3 to 4 feet of storm surge along the Brevard coast.
• Indian Harbour Beach: Indian Harbour Beach runs its own Building Department at 2055 South Patrick Drive, separate from Brevard County, and posts residential permit checklists and a roof affidavit on the city site.
• Malabar: The Town of Malabar takes building permit applications only through its online portal; it stopped accepting paper applications on May 1, 2024.
• Melbourne: Melbourne's Building Section says work attached to the main structure needs signed and sealed plans, which covers roof-mounted panels, and an online permit application stays valid for 180 days while it's under review.
• Melbourne Beach: The Town of Melbourne Beach issues its own building permits for addresses inside town limits. Solar jobs need the town's Solar Panel Roof Attachment Inspection Affidavit, signed by a licensed contractor, engineer or architect, before the final inspection can be scheduled.
• Melbourne Village: Construction in Melbourne Village follows the Florida Building Code and the town's own codes, and the town issues its own permits.
• Merritt Island: Storms on October 26 and 27, 2025, dropped more than 10 inches of rain on Merritt Island, an amount a Fox 35 meteorologist said generally happens about once every 50 years, and rainwater entered some homes on the island's north end.
• Mims: Mims is unincorporated, so Brevard County issues permits, and registered contractors can apply, upload plans, pay fees and schedule inspections online at any hour through the county's BASS portal.
• Palm Bay: Palm Bay's Building Department publishes residential solar permit requirements, takes all submittals electronically through its online portal, and lists solar panel installation among the work that needs wind load review.
• Port St. John: Port St. John is unincorporated, and voters turned down a 2002 plan to make it a city, 73% to 27%, so Brevard County handles building and solar permits.
• Rockledge: The City of Rockledge issues building permits digitally through its online portal, and any roof repair needs a permit. The city has used the 8th edition (2023) Florida Building Code since January 1, 2024.
• Satellite Beach: Satellite Beach lists solar PV among the work that needs a permit, and you can apply, upload plans, pay fees and schedule inspections online through the city's BS&A portal.
• South Patrick Shores: On June 7, 2023, an EF-1 tornado with peak winds of 90 to 100 mph crossed South Patrick Shores from near South Patrick Drive to the ocean, damaging dozens of homes' roofs and knocking down power poles; FPL's outage map showed the outages clustered there.
• Suntree: Suntree is unincorporated, so Brevard County's Planning and Development department in Viera issues building permits, and licensed contractors can apply online.
• Titusville: The city estimated about 15 inches of rain fell on Titusville on October 26, 2025, flooding major roads and neighborhoods, and the mayor declared a state of emergency the next morning.
• Viera: Viera is unincorporated, so Brevard County issues permits, and its online permitting system (BASS) is open only to licensed contractors. The Census counts Viera as two places, Viera West and Viera East, with about 28,400 people combined in 2020.
• West Melbourne: When Hurricanes Ian and Nicole hit in late 2022, homes in West Melbourne's Westbrooke subdivision flooded; the HOA said the local water control district had stopped granting permission to pump water out.

Each town page has the full details and sources.

No. Under Florida law (s. 193.624), the value a solar system adds to a home isn't counted in its assessed value. If you're unsure whether anything needs to be filed, ask the Brevard County Property Appraiser.

Solar equipment is also exempt from Florida sales tax, so it's already left out of the installed price.

FPL credits the solar you send to the grid as a kWh credit at the full retail rate. Unused credits roll forward for up to 12 months, and anything left at year-end is paid out at only a few cents per kWh, so systems are sized to cover a year of use. Solar can't take a bill below the monthly minimum ($30 at FPL).

See the full FPL solar guide.

Choosing a company? Check each installer's Florida license, compare at least two quotes and run them through our solar quote checker.