Today, the Solar and Storage Industry Institute (SI2) released a model policy encouraging the adoption of automated rooftop solar permitting software. The release comes as the United States reaches 5 million solar installations, more than 97% of which are on residential rooftops, and looks set to double that total in the next six years.
The policy model provides a template for states to encourage local governments to adopt automated rooftop solar permitting software. The software helps reduce rooftop solar permitting and inspection costs for governments, homeowners, and solar companies by standardizing, streamlining, and automating the permitting process.
As states struggle to meet their clean energy goals, one of the simplest and most cost-effective steps they can take is to make the permitting process for rooftop solar more efficient, said David Gahl, CEO of SI2. As the industry moves towards installing one million rooftop systems each year, local authorities will need to find ways to effectively manage the increased volume of permit applications, and this policy model provides the tools to achieve this.
The relatively high permitting and inspection costs of rooftop solar installations in the United States have long been cited as a key factor keeping residential solar costs in the United States higher than in other countries. In response, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in collaboration with private and public partners, developed SolarAPP+, a software package for automated rooftop solar permitting, free of charge to local governments. The software has since been adopted by 183 communities Or it was used to process 41,000 solar permits, saving more than 33,000 hours of local government staff time.
In addition to encouraging the adoption of automated rooftop solar permitting software, the model legislation includes provisions that prevent local governments from unreasonably restricting residential solar and residential energy storage systems, caps solar permit fees at the actual cost of permit processing, and allows applicants to request variances from order for the issuance of a permit.
The policy model is the second of its kind that SI2 has published as part of its Center for the Development of Policy Modelsfollowing the publication of a model policy regarding the implementation of large solar installations last fall.
News from the Institute for Solar and Storage Industry