In an effort to spur the growth of rooftop solar, the California Energy Commission just announced new grants to help communities automate the approval of residential solar permits, with the total now reaching a whopping $18.9 million Reached 334 cities and provinces. Experts expect this move will increase the speed of installations, reduce costs and accelerate solar adoption statewide.
About 10% of California properties have solar power, a figure that must grow rapidly before the state can meet its clean energy goals. One of the biggest obstacles to completing more solar projects is permitting. Properties installing rooftop solar must first obtain a permit from the local building department. Outdated and inefficient permitting requirements in many areas, combined with workforce shortages, can add months of delays and thousands of dollars to solar projects. In many cases, property owners cancel the project when permitting becomes too cumbersome or expensive. Building officials who want to improve solar permitting often don’t have the resources to do so.
The Commission’s California Automated Permit Processing Program (CalAPP), created by the state legislature in 2021 and launched in 2022, provides cities and counties with the tools to remove these permit barriers. CalAPP provides grants and technical assistance to cities and counties in automating permitting for residential solar energy systems and battery systems, allowing contractors to receive permits immediately. CalAPP closed applications on June 30, 2024, and the Commission announced the final recipients in early July.
“We’re thrilled to distribute funds to more than 330 cities and counties across California to make it easier for residents to switch to solar energy,” said David Hochschild, chairman of the California Energy Commission. “CalAPP is already helping install more solar energy in California and is a benefit to residents, building departments, solar companies and our environment.”
Since the launch of the CalAPP program, California has gone a step further in its quest for faster and cheaper rooftop solar installations by passing legislation requiring local governments to automate residential solar and storage permitting. June 30 was the deadline by which major cities and provinces had to comply. The Energy Commission has shared compliance as reported by cities and counties online.
“Every roof without solar power is a missed opportunity to fight climate change, lower energy costs, strengthen our electric grid and transition to all-electric neighborhoods,” said California State Environment Director Laura Deehan. “Administrative burden on building departments is the last thing we need to get in the way of homes making the switch to solar.”
Cities and counties can automate solar permitting by deploying free software from the federal Department of Energy called SolarAPP+, software from a Silicon Valley tech company called Symbium, or their own software. The most common method for cities and counties to automate permitting is by adopting SolarAPP+, a software platform developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in collaboration with industry and building safety officials. SolarAPP+ meets the requirements of California’s automated permitting laws and dramatically reduces permitting times. In 2023, SolarAPP+ saved 15,400 hours of staff time on solar permitting projects.
News release from the California Energy Commission
