The 2026 National Electrical Code is Now Available Online for Free

Great news for solar and energy storage professionals! The 2026 edition of the National Electrical Code (NEC®) has been released, and you can review it for free on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) website.

How to Access the 2026 NEC for Free

NFPA has long been committed to making safety codes and standards accessible to the public. Here’s how you can view the new 2026 NEC online:

1. Visit the NFPA codes and standards list
2. Search for the NEC (NFPA 70) 
3. Use the drop-down menu to select the 2026 edition
4. Click the “View Free Access” button
5. Create a NFPA account and accept their terms to access
6. Browse using the table of contents or page number

It’s important to note that this is read-only access –  you can’t download or print the full code, but it’s perfect for looking up requirements and familiarizing yourself with the changes. 

What’s New in the 2026 NEC for Solar, Storage, and EV Professionals

Accessing the code is the easy part. Understanding what actually changed and what it means for your work is where it gets more complex.

The 2026 NEC marks the start of a major structural reorganization – one designed to set up an even larger rewrite in 2029 – and brings meaningful updates to the articles solar, storage, and EV professionals rely on most. Here’s what you need to know.

Article 690 (Solar PV Systems): More clarifications than overhauls.

For solar PV professionals, Article 690 brings a longer list of changes than the previous cycle, but most are refinements to existing requirements rather than new obligations. Among the more practical updates: a new subsection formally addresses how to handle fractions of an ampere or volt in PV calculations, and expanded engineering calculation methods now apply to systems of any size opening up more flexibility for system designers.

Article 706 (Energy Storage Systems): PCS requirements tighten.

The deletion of Section 706.16 (Connection to Energy Sources) is one of the more consequential Article 706 changes. Most battery storage systems will now fall under Article 702 (Optional Standby Systems) rather than Article 710 (Stand-Alone Systems), and a new option under 702.4 requires inverter-based systems in one- and two-family dwellings to use a listed Power Control System (PCS) to manage load connections when the grid goes down. UL 3141 is the standard being integrated into inverter-based systems to support this requirement.

Energy Management Systems get their own article.

EMS requirements have moved from Article 750 to Article 130 – a signal that the code is treating energy management as a foundational system rather than a specialty topic. The 2026 NEC now formally distinguishes between Energy Management Systems (EMS) and Power Control Systems (PCS).

This is a high-level summary. The actual code language and how to apply it correctly on your jobs requires much more study.

Learn the 2026 NEC Changes from the Experts Who Wrote Them

HeatSpring hosts the 2026 National Electrical Code (NEC®) Changes: PV, ESS, EVs, PCS, and More course, developed by Solar Tech Collective and taught by instructors who served on Code Making Panels 4 and 13, the panels responsible for writing the solar, storage, and EV sections of the code itself.

The course covers:

• Changes to Articles 690 and 691 (Solar PV Systems and Large-Scale PV)
• Updates to Articles 706 and 480 (Energy Storage Systems and Stationary Batteries)
• Changes to Articles 705 and 710 (Interconnected Sources and Stand-Alone Systems)
• The new Article 130 (Energy Management Systems)
• Article 625 updates (EV Power Transfer Systems)
• Article 702 (Optional Standby Systems)

The course earns 3 NABCEP CE hours and is self-paced with 12 months of access after enrollment.

Enroll now and you can apply your enrollment fee toward the comprehensive 2026 NEC course — a full ~10-hour deep dive into all NEC requirements for these systems — when it launches.

Enroll in the 2026 NEC Changes Course!