Solar Permitting Tool Hits the Market to Boost Rooftop Solar Installations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As America passes three million solar installations, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is formally launching SolarAPP+ to help state and local governments to streamline and automate rooftop solar permits. After 40 years of growth, America reached 1 million solar installations in 2016, 2 million in 2019, and 3 million in 2021. With the help of SolarAPP+, the U.S. will double its solar installations to 6 million by 2026.
Solar Industry Commends Biden’s Climate Executive Actions
WASHINGTON D.C.—President Biden announced key actions on several climate issues today, including clean energy jobs, infrastructure, and environmental justice. Following is a statement on these executive orders from Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA): “The president has outlined a clear and carefully thought-out vision for addressing the range of climate challenges we face, and I commend and thank him for taking swift action on many of those challenges during the first week of this administration.
Permitting Options for Solar Installations During the COVID-19 Outbreak
COVID-19 Solar Permitting and Inspection Supply information on the current status of solar permit processing and inspection in jurisdictions you serve. Submit a Permitting & Inspection Status Report
Federal Legislation Will Streamline Solar Permitting, Grow Clean Energy Economy
The American Energy Opportunity Act will create jobs, make U.S. energy more resilient, and reduce carbon emissions
Solar Industry Unveils Campaign to Streamline Solar Permitting
As Solar Power International kicks off in California, the U.S. solar industry is taking a major step toward alleviating one of the biggest hurdles to installing solar on homes and businesses – cumbersome and inconsistent permitting and inspection processes.
RAPID Solar Toolkit
Working on solar project is a multiyear venture that requires following regulations and gathering permits during each phase of the project. Search below for information overviews on specific topics to discover some of the regulatory nuances for particular jurisdictions. To help navigate the regulatory process and point you toward specific actions and permits, review the detailed flowcharts provided in the flowchart library.
Solar Regulations and Permitting RAPID Toolkit
Open Energy Information has a webpage of summaries and flowcharts to navigate solar regulations and permitting. The webpage informs users on land use, land access, power plant, transmission siting and construction, and water use regulations at the Federal level, as well as State level, for California and Nevada.
Shared Solar: Current Landscape, Market Potential, and the Impact of Federal Securities Regulation
Analysis from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) finds that by making shared solar programs available to households and businesses that currently cannot host on-site photovoltaic (PV) systems shared solar could represent 32 to 49 percent of the distributed photovoltaic market in 2020.
Is Standardized Solar Permitting Next Industry Breakthrough?
Cutting costs has been the key to solar’s rapid expansion this decade. The lion’s share of cost reductions in the solar industry has come from reductions in module prices. The $4 per watt you’d have paid in 2006 for modules alone gets you the entire residential solar system installed today.
How Much Do Local Regulations Matter? Exploring the Impact of Permitting and Local Regulatory Processes on PV Prices in the United States
While PV modules and other hardware costs have dropped significantly over recent years, non-hardware soft costs have also fallen, but not nearly as sharply. This research report, authored by experts from Yale University, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin and the US Department of Energy, focuses on the impacts of city-level permitting and other regulatory processes on residential PV prices in the US. Key Findings: