About the 2011 Great California Solar Challenge

CALL TO ACTION

We, as supporters of the Great California Solar Challenge, recognize that 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 agree that while California may one of the most solar-savvy state in the nation, these ongoing hurdles delay job creation, limit revenue, and increase work for strapped local governments, and they deny consumers faster access to cheaper, cleaner sources of electricity.

We seek to create a path for policy, economic, and technical innovation that will be replicated throughout California and the nation.

Therefore, we support the establishment of this open and friendly competition between local governments, industry, and utilities to reduce paperwork, lessen confusion, and deliver more solar power installations at home and businesses.

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.

Action areas and aggregate targets include:

  • Reduce “solar soft costs” 50% by 2014 through uniform best practices, unification of local codes, and reduction/elimination of paperwork while maintaining the highest levels of public safety and installation quality.
  • Where practicable, coordinate efforts with U.S. Department of Energy roadmaps to align local, state, and federal organizations, including consideration of tools provided by the Solar America Board of Codes and Standards (Solar ABCs) and changes to the California Building Standards Commission Law.
  • Explore innovative permit fee models.
  • Provide visibility into local interpretations of National Electrical Code and related permitting inspection, and interconnection criteria.
  • Explore the viability of open source technology to increase access to municipal rules, regulations, and building codes across California.
  • Determine methods for automating the permitting, inspection, and interconnection steps for solar installations under the premise industry guidelines are set for consistent, complete and competent submission of paperwork and design content.
  • We will hold ourselves accountable by measuring progress in these ways:
    • Achieve a 50% reduction in the number of forms required across permitting, inspection, and interconnection processes by consolidating approvals or eliminating redundancy.
      • Quantify the time it takes to complete a solar installation from customer contract through net metering by tracking the times and delays at each step and continually identifying opportunities for improvement.
      • Residential Installation Goal <60 days from Contract to Net Metering
      • Commercial Installation Goal <90 business days from Contract to Net Metering
    • Forecast the acceleration in the number of local jobs, increased permits, and economic growth created by deploying solar installations.

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