As Deadline Looms, Which California Cities and Counties Are Doing Their Part To Cut Red Tape and Lower the Cost of Going Solar?

SACRAMENTO— With the September 30th deadline fast approaching for California’s largest cities and counties to lower the cost of going solar by switching to an automated streamlined permitting process, solar advocates released an interactive map to help Californians see local progress.

Using the color-coded map, Californians can see the status of their city’s or county’s efforts to implement streamlined permitting in order to cut red tape and lower consumer costs and delays when going solar. The map also provides information on the required compliance dates for each jurisdiction based on state law.

The Solar Access Act (Senate Bill 379–Wiener), requiring instant and online streamlined permitting for residential solar and storage systems, was signed into law by Governor Newsom in September of 2022 to help make it easier and more affordable for Californians to go solar. Cities and counties can apply for grant funding through the CalAPP program administered by the California Energy Commission to help cover costs for implementing the new permitting process; the deadline to apply for funds was extended to May 1, 2024 and is on a first-come, first-served basis for all remaining funds.

SolarAPP+, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the Department of Energy, is one of the easiest, one-stop solutions for building departments to comply with the law. It is free for local governments to use and available to all jurisdictions in California and across the country. There are other software products also available to cities and counties throughout the state to comply with streamlined permitting requirements, such as Symbium. In addition to using currently available software programs, cities and counties can also comply with the Solar Access Act by developing their own online, instant, streamlined permitting system.

Streamlined permitting software asks the contractor a series of questions to verify the system’s design is up to code and then issues a permit automatically for installation to begin.

It is twice as expensive to go solar in California than many other developed places, in part, because of costs associated with permitting and interconnection with utilities. On average, it takes 13 to 19 days for California building departments to issue a permit, and it is not uncommon for wait times to take 60 or more days. The result is months of delays, thousands of dollars added to solar projects that are passed along to customers, and fewer homes going solar that otherwise would.

“California cannot meet its clean energy goals and bring rooftop solar and solar batteries to more people without local cities and counties streamlining their rooftop solar permitting process,” said Cailey Underhill, Advocacy & Development Director of Solar Rights Alliance. “It is one of the biggest obstacles to solar growth.”

Streamlined permitting has the potential to dramatically bring down the cost of solar and storage in California by cutting red tape around permitting without sacrificing safety. All solar systems, even those permitted through automated software, must also pass a final inspection. Studies show that streamlined permits pass inspection with rates at, or better, than traditional permitting processes, many of which require the contractor to drive paper submittals to the building department and stand in line to submit the permit.

“It is time to come up to the 21st century when it comes to solar permitting,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director of the California Solar & Storage Association (CALSSA). “Modernizing solar permitting processes and cutting red tape is a no-brainer for California.”

“Solar contractors and local permitting authorities in communities from Chula Vista to Fresno to Redding are successfully using SolarAPP+ to cut down the review period for residential solar installations, and more communities across the state can take advantage of this platform,” said Jeff Marootian, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “The software eases the entire process without sacrificing quality and safety, and in some cases, permits are issued within 15 minutes of entering them into the automated system. Not only does this drastically reduce review hours, backlogs, and associated costs, it allows for homeowners to go solar faster. This is critical to our nation’s clean energy goals, including making solar the cheapest source of electricity in the United States in the next decade.”

CALSSA estimates that the broad adoption of automated permitting would lower the cost of a typical home solar system by $1,200 to $2,600, and for the typical solar and storage system by $2,300 to $5,100.

Cities with more than 50,000 residents and counties with more than 150,000 residents must comply with the Solar Access Act by September 30, 2023. Cities with 50,000 or fewer residents have until September 2024 to comply. Cities with fewer than 5,000 residents and counties with fewer than 150,000 residents are exempt altogether. Still, many exempt jurisdictions have adopted automated permitting anyway.

Groups Call for CPUC to Reject Utility-Backed Proposal to Make Rooftop Solar Unaffordable for Renters, Farms, and Schools

New rules proposed yesterday by California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) would make it unaffordable for renters in multifamily housing, farms, and schools to benefit from rooftop solar and battery storage.  The proposed decision hurts renters in California by denying multifamily properties the ability to consume the energy that they produce on-site without selling it to the utility and buying it back at higher rates.

At issue are proposed changes to the Virtual Net Energy Metering (VNEM) and Net Energy Metering Aggregation (NEMA) programs. The programs let properties with multiple electric meters install a single solar system for the entire property, sharing one solar system’s electricity and net metering credits with all customers and meters on that property. This brings the benefits of going solar to many types of consumers who otherwise would not benefit from Net Energy Metering (NEM), the program that makes solar more affordable by crediting consumers with solar systems for the excess energy they produce and share back with the energy grid.

VNEM and NEMA are essential for making solar accessible and affordable for apartment complexes. Farms, which have separately metered irrigation wells, commercial developments, and school and college campuses also rely on the ability to share solar generation and net metering credits.

Last December, the CPUC issued a decision on the value of solar credits for single-family homes. That decision includes a distinction between energy consumed on-site and energy exported to the utility electric grid. It drastically reduces compensation to customers for exported energy, but allows customers to continue using their own generated electricity in real time. Under this updated program, known as NEM-3, customers consuming the energy they generate results in them buying less energy from the utility.

The proposed decision on virtual net energy metering does not include a distinction between energy consumed on-site and energy exported to the utility electric grid. It effectively prohibits customers from buying less energy from the utility even when they produce and consume energy on-site in real time. It would force customers in multi-meter properties—such as renters, small farmers, schools, and colleges—to sell all of their generation to the utility at low rates and buy it back at full retail rates.

The proposed decision is slated for a vote by the CPUC commissioners on September 21. If the CPUC finalizes the decision as proposed, it will likely end the ability of apartment buildings and many schools and farms to install solar and energy storage.

“Apartment complexes, farms, schools and commercial buildings represent a tremendous opportunity to grow California’s clean energy capacity while bringing the benefits of solar to many types of consumers who were previously left out,” said CALSSA Executive Director Bernadette Del Chiaro. “Big utilities and our state’s energy regulators should not be treating people in apartments and other multimeter situations worse than consumers in single family homes. We know solar threatens utility profits, and they will stop at nothing to halt our progress – but this type of unfair discrimination is too much even for them.”

Hundreds of organizations and businesses representing clean energy and renters’ rights advocates, affordable housing, farms, and schools—as well more than 135 local elected officials—previously called on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to reject proposals from the utilities and CPUC Public Advocate to make it nearly impossible for their constituencies to benefit from rooftop solar and battery storage. The top recommendation in those letters was maintaining a distinction between self-generation consumed on-site and energy exported to the electric grid.

In addition to individual elected officials from around the state, local jurisdictions spoke out against the utility proposals.

A recently adopted resolution by the Oakland City Council calls on the CPUC and Governor Newsom “to reject any proposals that seek to frustrate or dismantle the ability of multifamily tenants and schools to avail themselves of the benefits of local, renewable, and affordable energy through rooftop solar and battery storage.” Instead, the City Council urged the CPUC to “approve a net energy metering tariff for multifamily housing and schools that includes full credits and savings for multifamily tenants and schools from customer generated energy.”