About the 2012 DOE Rooftop Solar Challenge

CALL TO ACTION

Support the DOE Rooftop Solar Challenge. Yes, while solar technology, photovoltaic panels, and other hardware costs decline, the “soft” costs of getting a project done remain stubbornly and unnecessarily high. Some of the leading drivers of these costs come from permitting, inspection, and electric grid interconnection requirements.

We are the Efficient Solar Market Partners (ESMP) team of Northern California. SolarTech is pleased to lead this team and participate as one of 22 nationally awarded teams in the Rooftop Solar Challenge powered by the DOE SunShot Initiative.

The ESMP Team:

  • SolarTech
    David McFeely: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  • San Francisco Department of the Environment
    Danielle Murray: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  • Solar Sonoma County
    Alison Healy: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  • East Bay Green Corridor
    Carla Din: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  • Clean Coalition
    Ted Ko: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

OBJECTIVE

To help consumers, public officials, and California’s solar industry reduce the cost of energy while driving economic growth.

LEADERSHIP

Regional/Local Governments – Explore alternative processes for permitting and inspection of solar installations. Save time and staff resources, ensure cost-recovery revenue models while issuing more permits and increased local economic growth. Create lasting local jobs.

Utilities – Identify process improvements for interconnection to the electric grid while increasing visibility into project pass/fail criteria, reducing paperwork where possible.

Industry – Select high impact solar installations, prepare project submittals, and adhere to proposed standards for photovoltaic processes in exchange for improved consistency, speed, and reduced paperwork while maintaining the utmost integrity with respect to system safety, performance, quality, and reliability.

Technology – Create a platform for open access to aggregated information related to Permitting, Inspection, and Interconnection requirements at Local levels. Leverage technology to enable process automation through software tools, applications, and IT systems based on open architectures that share and move solar project information between industry, cities, and utilities during the project lifecycle.

Financial – Identify and/or share process improvements across Local Governments, Utilities, and Industry that if standardized and scaled, would benefit the market as a whole through reduced project risk, increased availability of capital for Distributed PV projects at lower transaction costs.

MEASURING SUCCESS & ENSURING QUALITY

Our public-private effort seeks participation from every part of California with team members collaborating jointly on policy, business, and technical innovations to reduce the State’s variability with respect to local building codes, approvals processes, and pass/fail criteria for solar energy projects.


Please submit any question and/or inquiry you may have regarding the Challenge to permitting@solartech.org.