U.S. Department of Energy to Offer Instant Permits for Rooftop Solar Installations

With the return of the United States to the Paris climate agreement, President Joe Biden has the noble goal of decarbonizing the American electricity grid by 2035. As part of this plan, the Department of Energy ( DoE) has announced that it is deploying a new tool that will make it much easier and faster to obtain a permit for a rooftop solar installation.

The cost of solar power has fallen 90% over the past decade, but permit costs can be as much as a third of the cost of a rooftop installation. On top of that, with solar permits varying widely in the United States, some customers have to wait months for approval, the DoE wrote.

The Solar Automated Permit Processing (SolarAPP +) platform is supposed to solve these problems, becoming the standard portal for local governments to process permit applications. It automatically checks codes to ensure safety while generating a standardized inspection checklist that installers and inspectors can use to verify compliance in the field.

Today we have 3 million homes with solar power on their roofs, but the potential is so much greater.

The government piloted the SolarAPP + program in four communities around Arizona and California: Tucson and Pima County in Arizona, and Menifee and Pleasant Valley in California. “In Tucson, for example, SolarAPP + has reduced authorization reviews from about 20 business days to zero,” according to the DoE.

“Today we have 3 million homes that have solar power on their roofs, but the potential is so much greater,” said DoE director of solar power. Reuters. “Having streamlined processes and an automated authorization platform that can enable homeowners to switch to solar faster, easier and more cheaply promises to really help grow the residential solar industry.

Local governments and installers can now register to start using the app or attend webinars listed on the DoE blog. It’s all part of the DoE’s Summer of Solar campaign, which includes the agency’s research to reduce the indirect costs (design, location, authorization, installation, etc.) associated with rooftop solar power.