What Is Garage Solar?
The gap nobody’s filling
There are three ways to go solar as a homeowner. Two of them are well-served. One of them isn’t.
Balcony Solar is for renters and apartment dwellers. Small plug-in panels, up to 1,200W, that backfeed into your home wiring and offset your electric bill. No storage, no resilience — when the grid goes down, balcony solar goes down with it. Costs around $1,000, saves $15–25/month in summer, and requires new legislation state by state. Organizations like Bright Saver are doing good work here.
Professional Installer Solar is the mainstream path. You hire a company, they design and install a 5–15kW grid-tied system on your roof for $30,000–50,000+. Net metered, utility interconnected, 8–15 year payback with incentives. Energy Trust of Oregon and SolarOregon serve this lane well. But most of these systems shut down during grid outages unless you add a $10K+ battery.
Garage Solar is the lane nobody’s in. You build a standalone system on your own property — a shed, garage, shop, or ground mount — with your own hands. 200W to 3.2kW+, with battery storage built in. It doesn’t touch the grid. No utility permission needed. No interconnection agreement. No net metering. Just your panels, your batteries, your power.
What makes Oregon special
Oregon stacks four legal pathways that, combined, create the most DIY-friendly solar environment in the country:
Homeowner Licensing Exemption (ORS 479.540) — You don’t need an electrician’s license to do electrical work on property you own. You still need a permit and inspection, but you can do the work yourself.
200W Solar Safe Harbor — Standalone systems under 200W that aren’t connected to building electrical or the grid are exempt from the Oregon Solar Installation Specialty Code. No permit, no inspection, no hassles.
Permit-Exempt Detached Structures (ORSC R105.2) — Small nonhabitable detached structures (under 200 sq ft, under 15 ft tall) are exempt from building permits. Trade permits like electrical are separate, but the structure itself is free and clear.
Standalone System Carve-Out — By staying off-grid and standalone, you avoid utility interconnection requirements (NEC Article 705), net metering agreements, and the entire utility entanglement.
No other state stacks all four of these together this cleanly.
Who this is for
Garage Solar is for Oregon homeowners who have a detached structure or yard space, some comfort with hand tools, and the willingness to learn. You don’t need to be an electrician. You do need to be willing to read, follow instructions, and respect the code.
This site gives away all the information for free — the legal framework, the technical knowledge, the shopping lists, and the step-by-step build guides. If you want a second set of eyes on your plan, help with system sizing, or someone to walk you through the permit process, that’s available as a paid consulting service.
Who this isn’t for
If you rent, look into balcony solar and Bright Saver. If you want someone else to handle everything, Energy Trust of Oregon and SolarOregon can connect you with professional installers. If you want to go fully off-grid for your entire home, that’s a bigger project than what we cover here — but the fundamentals are the same.
We don’t compete with any of these. We’re complementary. We fill the gap they don’t cover.
The complete pathway
Most DIY solar content online gives you great technical information with no regulatory framework. You can learn how to wire a charge controller from Will Prowse, but nobody tells you what Oregon code says about it, whether you need a permit, or what the inspector will look for.
Johnny Solarseed provides the complete pathway — from “I’m curious” to “done and signed off”:
- Understand the law — What Oregon allows, what requires permits, what’s exempt
- Size your system — Load analysis, panel sizing, battery sizing for Portland-area conditions
- Buy the parts — Specific shopping lists with specs and listing requirements
- Build it — Step-by-step with wiring diagrams and connection details
- Get it inspected — What to bring to the building department, what the inspector checks
- Use it — Monitoring, maintenance, and expanding over time