Solar pergola means two different products
One kind has a small solar panel that charges a battery to run the louver motor, the LED strip, and sometimes a fan. It is a convenience feature. It saves you trenching power out to the patio, and it will never send a watt to your house or change your electric bill.
The other kind carries full sized solar modules, the same panels that would go on a roof, wired through an inverter into your electrical panel. That is a solar array that happens to give you shade, and it is what this page is about.
Product names will not tell you which one you are looking at. Spec sheets will. Ask for the module wattage. If nobody can give you a number in watts, it is the first kind.
Two prices, added together
| Layer | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Pergola, structure only | $1,450 to $5,750 |
| Solid patio cover, installed | $20 to $60 per sq ft |
| Louvered roof, motorized | $55 to $125 per sq ft |
| Solar modules and inverter, installed | $2.60 to $3.62 per watt |
- The structure is the local number. Pergola and patio cover ranges here are DFW market averages, not a quote. Size, height, material, and how the roof ties into the house move it more than anything else.
- The solar is the national number. Roof mounted solar runs about $2.60 per watt and purpose built structures run toward $3.62, per EnergySage figures current as of July 2026. A pergola sized for a seating area holds a modest array, so expect a few kilowatts, not a whole house.
- Build it once. A pergola framed only to carry its own weight is not framed for an array. Sizing the posts, beams, and footings for the extra dead load and wind uplift costs very little at the footing stage and a great deal afterward.
The 30 percent federal credit is gone. The Residential Clean Energy Credit applied to property installed through December 31, 2025, and the IRS states it is not available for anything placed in service after that date. Any solar quote showing an after credit price for a 2026 install is quoting a credit that no longer exists. State and utility programs run on their own schedules, so ask about those separately.
Two trades, and only one of them is us
Building the structure is carpentry and fabrication. Wiring the array is electrical work: the DC runs, the disconnects, the inverter, the service panel, the grounding, and the utility interconnection.
Texas has no state solar contractor license at all. The photovoltaic work instead requires a Texas Electrical Contractor License, and licensed electricians have to do the wiring, the inverter, the panel connections, and the interconnection. A company may legally sell you a solar system in Texas without any license and still not be allowed to install it. That distinction is worth remembering when a salesperson is vague about who is doing what.
Plainly: we build structures. We do not sell, design, or install solar, and we do not do electrical work of any kind. What we will do is build the pergola or patio cover engineered to carry the array you plan to put on it, so the licensed electrical contractor you hire has something sound to work with. Tell us at the estimate that solar is coming, and it gets designed in from the footings up.
Expect two permits, not one
Attached patio covers need a building permit in essentially every DFW city, usually with a Texas licensed engineer's seal on the plans. Dallas exempts detached covers under 200 square feet behind the front setback with no utilities run to them. Fort Worth has no size exemption. Adding photovoltaic modules puts an electrical permit on top of the building permit, and a structure carrying an array is very likely to need the engineer's seal whether or not it would have without one.
Rules change and every city runs its own review. Confirm the current requirements with your own building department before you plan a timeline around them. More detail on the structure side lives on the permits page.