Solar panels in North Hills
Solar panels in North Hills go onto a neighborhood that began turning from farmland into suburb in the 1950s. It sits on mostly level ground between Bull Creek and the Pacoima Wash, from Roscoe Boulevard up to Lassen Street, with the 405 cutting through the middle. The old name, Sepulveda, still hangs on: the VA medical center on Plummer Street uses it in its mailing address. We work here from our office one neighborhood west in Northridge. Every design starts with the house you have — its electrical panel, its roof and its LADWP account.
What a postwar North Hills house needs checked first
The city's community plan says this part of the Valley kept a rural, farming character through the 1940s. Suburban building started in the 1950s and filled in slowly after that, and the shift from houses to apartment buildings began in the 1960s. Today the 405 splits North Hills West from North Hills East, and it splits the housing too: the plan puts single-family streets west of the freeway and most multifamily buildings east of it.
Flat ground helps. On a level lot, shade usually comes from something close by — a big tree, a neighbor's second story, a chimney. We map each one before drawing a layout, because one shaded corner can pull down a whole string of panels.
On a house from that first building wave, check the main electrical panel first. The electrical code (NEC 705.12) limits how much solar current can feed back through a panel's busbar. If the panel is original to the house, it was sized for the appliances of its day, and it can hit that limit before the roof runs out of room.
Failing that math doesn't always mean a new panel. A smaller main breaker, a connection ahead of the main breaker, or a control system that caps inverter output can sometimes solve it. If none of those fit, or you also want an EV charger or a heat pump, an electrical panel upgrade is the cleaner fix. We price it into the same project.
Then the roof. What counts is the year the current roof went on, not the year the house was built. Panels stay up for decades, so a roof with only a few years left should be replaced first. Already have panels on a roof that is wearing out? That is the job for our panel removal and reinstall service.
LADWP, LADBS and the permit path for a North Hills address
North Hills is inside the City of Los Angeles, so LADWP, the city-owned utility, sends your electric bill — not Southern California Edison. LADWP runs its own net metering program outside the CPUC's NEM 3.0 rules, so a quote built on Edison's rules is the wrong quote here. Our guide to LADWP solar net metering explains how your exported power is credited.
The same guide covers two programs LADWP offers that are worth knowing before you sign anything: Solar Rooftops, where the utility owns the panels on your roof and pays you for the space, and the Self-Generation Incentive Program, which helps income-qualified households pay for solar and batteries, though LADWP warns that its funding is limited.
LADBS, the city's building department, issues the permit. For a house or duplex, a rooftop array rated 10 kW or smaller can get an express permit online, with no plan check, as long as its equipment stays inside the department's limits. LADBS adds that the structure holding the panels may still need its own building permit. A larger system, or one outside those limits, goes through plan check, and LADBS's Valley office for that is the Van Nuys Development Services Center at 6262 Van Nuys Boulevard.
Adding a battery brings in the Los Angeles Fire Department. Even a battery that fits LADBS's express path needs the Fire Department's own plan check approval and permit. That extra step is one more reason to read whether a battery pays off on an LADWP bill before you add one.
One review North Hills skips: none of the city's 35 historic preservation overlay zones is here. That means no HPOZ design review, even for panels on the street side of the roof. We prepare the LADBS permit package and the LADWP interconnection application for you.
If you buy the system, there is no federal residential credit to claim anymore; it ended on December 31, 2025. A lease is the other common route, and on LADWP it has to follow the utility's own terms. Before you sign a lease, or any offer that bills you by the kilowatt-hour, check it against LADWP's rules for solar leases.
Valley heat, dry summers and what they do to output
The weather station at Van Nuys Airport sits about two miles south of the middle of North Hills. NOAA's 1991–2020 normals there count about 77 days a year at 90°F or hotter, and about 15 at 100°F or hotter. Air conditioning runs hardest in that heat, and the long summer days are also when a roof makes the most power.
Heat also trims output. Panels make a little less power as they warm up, and the spec sheet lists how much as the temperature coefficient. Compare that number between quotes, not just the wattage.
Summer rain is close to zero. NOAA's normals put June, July and August together at less than a tenth of an inch, so dust that lands on the glass in late spring can stay until fall. If your monitoring app shows output slipping on clear days, book a solar cleaning and maintenance visit before you assume something broke.
The same LADWP and LADBS rules apply next door. We also work in Granada Hills and Mission Hills to the north and Van Nuys to the south. You can also browse every area we serve from Northridge.
North Hills solar questions
Is North Hills served by LADWP or Southern California Edison?
LADWP. North Hills lies inside the City of Los Angeles, and the city's own utility delivers its power. Because LADWP is city-owned, it writes its own net metering rules, and the CPUC tariff called NEM 3.0 does not govern it. Ask any company quoting you which utility's rules it used.
My mailing address says Sepulveda, not North Hills. Does that change anything for solar?
No. Sepulveda was the neighborhood's name before it became North Hills, and it still turns up on mail: the VA medical center at 16111 Plummer Street is addressed to Sepulveda, CA 91343. Your utility and permit office follow the city line, not the name on the envelope. Inside the City of Los Angeles, LADWP bills you and LADBS permits you either way, and the utility named on your electric bill settles any doubt.
Will a solar project on my North Hills house need a plan check?
Not if the system is small and simple. For a house or duplex, LADBS issues an online express permit with no plan check when the rooftop array is 10 kW or smaller and its equipment meets the department's limits, although the panels' structural support may need a separate building permit. Larger systems go through plan check, and a home battery also goes to the Los Angeles Fire Department for its own review. We prepare the permit paperwork and the LADWP interconnection application.
Can I put solar on a condo or townhouse in North Hills?
State law is on your side, but when the roof is shared, the association gets a say. Under California Civil Code section 714, an association rule that effectively bans solar can't be enforced. If the board hasn't turned your application down in writing 45 days after receiving it, the law treats it as approved, unless the delay came from a reasonable request for more information. On a shared multifamily roof, the association must also have you notify the other owners in the building and carry liability insurance. If rooftop panels won't work, LADWP's Shared Solar program lets condo and apartment customers buy part of their power from new solar plants built in or near the LA basin.
How do I choose the best solar company in North Hills?
Ask every company the same three questions. Was the quote built on LADWP's rules or on Edison's? Who files the LADBS permit and the interconnection application? Who answers when the system needs service in year five or year ten? Then read reviews about what happened after the install, not just the sale. For comparison, Collective Solar has been in business since 2010, works out of an office in Northridge, and holds a 4.8-star Google rating from 50 reviews.
Solar in North Hills, by the numbers
Solar contractors pulled 1,414 permits on houses in North Hills between January 2013 and May 2023, with the most in 2021.
1,414
solar permits on houses, January 2013 to May 2023
2021
the busiest year, with 219 permits
180
permits in 2022, the last full year the City has published
| Year | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permits | 70 | 101 | 175 | 163 | 143 | 79 | 107 | 127 | 219 | 180 | 50 |
*January to May 19. Source: City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety electrical permits, through May 19, 2023, the latest the City has published. Counts permits on one- and two-family homes pulled by solar contractors inside the North Hills East and North Hills West neighborhood council boundaries. A permit is not a home: one job can need more than one permit, and solar put in by general electricians isn't counted, so read these as a measure of activity, not a count of homes.
Get a free solar estimate for your North Hills home
Send your address and a recent LADWP bill. We check the panel, the roof and the permit path first, then show you the numbers.