Latest news with #SolarAPP+
Chicago Tribune
19-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Abraham Scarr: Illinois lawmakers can cut red tape and make going solar more affordable
'We haven't paid for electricity in years,' said Andrew Hoffman, a retired psychologist who lives in Morton Grove, a suburb just outside Chicago. Hoffman installed his first rooftop solar panels around 2010, among the first in his neighborhood, and added a second solar array in 2013. 'It's pretty amazing that the sun just powers our lives,' he told Environment Illinois Research & Education Center. That's the magic of rooftop solar, an energy source Illinoisans can tap into directly. Rooftop solar eventually pays for itself and, thanks to battery storage, can be used to power our homes year-round. And, as a nonpolluting energy source, it helps keep our air clean and our climate stable. Yet in Illinois, we are tapping only a small amount — 2%, according to 2022 figures — of our potential solar energy generation, despite rapidly falling costs, improvements in technology, favorable tax incentives and growing demand. Increasing the number of homes with solar panels and battery backup systems is a critical component of Illinois' clean energy transition. One of the major obstacles to unleashing that potential, as detailed recently by the Tribune in its coverage of our recent report, are cumbersome municipal and county permitting procedures that add unnecessary delays and costs to the simplest residential roof project. Solar installers we spoke to highlighted a range of problems such as having to personally drop off or mail in applications, navigate different safety codes in jurisdictions across the state and deal with slow-moving third parties outsourced to handle applications, who also add costs. By contrast, instant permitting software such as SolarAPP+ allows local authorities to quickly evaluate and process applications in a safe and streamlined manner. SolarAPP+ was developed by the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in collaboration with building and safety experts and is offered free to local governments. Instant permitting will help consumers get their projects done more quickly, cheaply and predictably, while also reducing the time that understaffed towns and cities have to spend on solar permitting. It's a win-win. Thankfully, Illinois lawmakers are now considering the Residential Automated Solar Permitting Act, sponsored by state Sen. Bill Cunningham and state Rep. Marcus Evans, which would implement instant permitting statewide. The projected benefits to consumers, jurisdictions and the clean energy transition would be tremendous. According to a recent report from the Greenhouse Institute and the Brown University Climate Solutions Lab, instant permitting could lead to an additional 35,000 to 36,000 home solar roofs in Illinois by 2030 and as many as an additional 300,000 by 2040. Those 300,000 solar roofs could eventually save 30 million to 31 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of shutting down eight coal-fired power plants for a year. In addition, instant permitting could bring down the cost for a family to install solar by as much as $2,100 by 2030 and by more than $4,000 by 2040. Across the country, around 300 jurisdictions — including Phoenix, Oklahoma City, New Orleans and Houston — are already benefiting from instant solar permitting. But we'll only get the full benefits and cost savings of this technology if jurisdictions across our state, rather than isolated cities or counties, offer this option. Making the process simpler and more uniform across the board is what is needed to save consumers precious money and time and help unleash rooftop solar across our state. It's time to remove unnecessary barriers so more Illinoisans can access the benefits of solar power. That's why we're calling on state lawmakers to stand up for consumers and cut red tape by passing the Residential Automated Solar Permitting Act. Together, we can make going solar easier, quicker and cheaper for communities across Illinois. As Hoffman of Morton Grove told us, rooftop solar feels good, 'not just for your wallet, but for your soul.' Abraham Scarr is director of the Illinois Public Interest Research Group, better known as PIRG.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Going solar should be cheaper and easier. Local governments are standing in the way.
(Getty Images) Colorado doesn't need to wait on Washington to address climate change, reduce costs for families, and make government work more efficiently. We have the power to make it cheaper and quicker for families to install rooftop solar and home batteries by streamlining local permitting processes. Unfortunately, permitting wait times and delays for rooftop solar in Colorado are some of the worst in the western United States. In Arapahoe County, for example, the majority of permits take more than 10 weeks to process. These delays impose significant costs. According to a recent analysis by Brown University, local red tape increases the price of installing a residential solar system by more than $3,200. This price hike puts solar out reach of thousands of Coloradans, particularly low- and middle-income families. As solar professionals in Colorado, we can attest to the detrimental impact of these unnecessary bureaucratic barriers: fewer jobs installing solar and more greenhouse gas emissions. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Wisely, our General Assembly offered legislation this year to tackle this problem. House Bill 25-1096, sponsored by Reps. Lesley Smith and Kyle Brown and Sen. Matt Ball, and championed by Gov. Jared Polis, would have required our cities and counties to implement one of several software platforms that automatically approve most residential solar and home battery permits. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden developed one of these software platforms, SolarAPP+, which is now used in Denver — and in hundreds of other localities around the country. Using a platform such as SolarAPP+ also makes for faster inspections. Automating solar permitting is one of those rare win-wins — saving families and solar installers money and headaches, and saving cities and counties resources and time. But climate-forward cities and counties, including Boulder and Fort Collins, lined up this legislative session to oppose the legislation and were ultimately responsible for its demise. They argued that automated permitting would prevent them from assessing the historical significance of every home built before 1975 before allowing solar panels on its roof, that certain homes in flood plains should be raised on stilts before they were allowed to install rooftop solar, and that their government IT departments would struggle to implement widely-used free software. Their opposition is disappointing. Boulder and Fort Collins have set goals to get to 100% renewable energy by 2030 — a stronger target than even the state of Colorado. And yet city officials and local electeds in Boulder and Fort Collins spent valuable time and resources lobbying against a common-sense solution that would make rooftop solar cheaper for Coloradans statewide. Our local governments should keep two important considerations in mind. First, decarbonization is on the chopping block in Washington, including critical funding for renewable energy projects and facilities in Colorado. Our cities and counties — especially those that claim to be environmental leaders — should do everything in their power to ensure that as subsidies go away we make renewable energy as cheap to buy and as fast to deploy as possible. Second, we are seeing just how many Americans have lost faith in the simple idea that the government prioritizes our needs over its processes. Across the ideological spectrum, more and more believe that government is standing in the way of building what we need, from critical national infrastructure to a simple home renovation. Cities and counties in Colorado like Boulder and Fort Collins should be at the forefront of creating an efficient government that prioritizes people, rather than hiding behind local exceptionalism to justify burdensome red tape and costly inefficiency. Colorado is blessed with abundant sunshine, and a commitment to good government. We urge our cities, counties and the legislature to step up and make it easier for Coloradans to install rooftop solar, reduce their utility bills and fight the climate crisis. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Red tape is raising costs and slowing the adoption of solar in Illinois, report says
In Illinois, solar installers often face 'complex and cumbersome' permitting requirements that can add months — and hundreds of dollars in cost — to the simplest residential roof project, according to a new report from environmentalists and consumer advocates. In some places, installers reported having to submit applications in person, rather than via email or an online portal. One installer complained about having to place six calls just to obtain a permit that had already been approved; others said they navigate needlessly complex and drawn-out review processes or face 'wacky' formatting requirements. Among the results: The state is viewed as 'a very good market because of all the incentives, but an absolute nightmare to operate in,' an Illinois solar installer was quoted as saying. Aurora, Elmhurst and Joliet were among the places where installers reported problems. The report, released Thursday by Environment Illinois Research & Education Center and the Illinois PIRG Education Fund, calls on the state to streamline the process by adopting instant permitting software — an approach already in place in California and on the way in Maryland. Instant permitting software checks whether a project is compliant with national and local building codes and can approve a permit within a matter of minutes. Options include SolarAPP+, which was developed by the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in collaboration with building and safety experts and is offered free to local governments. '(Instant permitting) is a pretty easy way to just get more of these small-scale solar projects onto the grid faster, which can add up to a pretty significant amount of energy and ease the load on our grid,' said report co-author Theo Rosen, a climate campaigns associate for Environment Illinois. The Illinois legislature is considering a bill that would require larger municipalities to offer instant permitting for residential solar roofs. The goal is to have instant permitting included in a larger clean energy bill that will likely be considered this spring, Rosen said. She frames the issue in terms of untapped potential: In the United States, 45% of electricity use could be powered by rooftop solar, she said, but Illinois is only using about 2% of its rooftop solar potential. According to a recent report from the Greenhouse Institute and the Brown University Climate Solutions Lab, instant permitting could spur solar roof adoption by reducing barriers and lowering costs for installers and customers. Instant permitting could lead to an additional 35,000 to 36,000 home solar roofs in Illinois by 2030 and as much as an additional 300,000 by 2040, according to the report from the Greenhouse Institute, a research institute focused on climate change. Those 300,000 solar roofs could eventually save 31 to 32 metric tons of CO2 equivalent, the report said — the rough equivalent of shutting down eight coal-fired power plants for a year. In addition, the cost of a new solar roof could be reduced by as much as $2,100 by 2030 under instant permitting, and by more than $4,000 by 2040. An 8.6-kilowatt roof, about the median in Illinois, costs about $26,000 before federal and state tax incentives. Rosen's report, which draws from interviews with staff at nine companies that install residential solar in Illinois, paints a picture of a permitting process that can be long, frustrating and unpredictable. The interviews were published anonymously because of concerns about the potential for retaliation by permitting authorities. Among the towns and cities where installers said they faced obstacles was Aurora. Solar installers said Aurora moves slowly when it comes to solar permits and is known for being unresponsive, with an online permitting system that 'frankly is a joke.' A senior employee at a large solar company reported that he has had to go to Aurora in person — a 45-minute drive — just to get a response. He said he had to do that seven times in the past year: 'To me that's a big red flag that something is broken internally.' Multiple solar installers said they are wary of taking jobs in Aurora, and several said they charge their Aurora customers a premium because of the extra work involved in getting a project approved. One installer said he doesn't want to do business in Aurora: 'We had one project, and only ever one, in Aurora, because we said we're never going back.' Aurora Chief Development Services Officer John Curley responded that 96% of solar permits in the city are submitted via the online portal, and the vast majority of those users are using the portal regularly. 'We have additionally been challenging our software vendor to make portal improvements for several years and they are nearly ready to launch a newer public portal,' Curley said in an email interview. Curley wrote that while the average time it takes to get a solar permit in Aurora is 70 days, only 5.6 of those days are due to Aurora reviewing the proposal, with the rest of the time taken up by 'private sector response' and contractor registration and payment. As for the complaint that an installer had to visit seven times in one year to get responses, Curley wrote, 'Plan Review and Inspection results and responses are available 24/7 on-line. There is never a need to visit in person for this information.' In communities such as Elmhurst, installers complained about the use of third-party permit reviewers, who aren't municipal employees. 'Some places you'll submit the application and you get an approval in two, three, four days,' an installer was quoted as saying. 'But with these third-party reviewers, we submit to the reviewer, they take about a week to accept the application, then they receive payment. Once they get payment, they take another week to review. Then they have comments. They send those to us. We respond. They then take another week to review our response and make us pay. Once we've paid, they take another week to review. And then they have another round of comments, and so on.' Each round of review takes roughly three weeks, and there are often two or three rounds of comments in Elmhurst, the installer said: 'It just takes forever.' Elmhurst officials did not respond to requests for comment. Joliet also was named by more than one solar company as one of the more difficult and time-consuming jurisdictions to work with, a characterization the city disputes. 'Our city staff have successfully collaborated with over 100 contractors on various projects, including solar initiatives, and we are proud of our track record,' Joliet spokesperson Rosemaria DiBenedetto said in a written statement. 'The city of Joliet is committed to working diligently and effectively with contractors and businesses every day, offering support and guidance to ensure their success,' she said in the statement. Among the complaints about Joliet: The city requires permit applications to be submitted via an online portal that an installer described as 'confusing … with its own set of crazy requirements.' There are a variety of options for instant permitting, including privately developed software, but SolarAPP+ is a popular choice. SolarAPP+ reduced the median number of days from permit submission to passed inspection from 47.5 to 33 in a subset of 2023 cases, according to a June review by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Clean Kilowatts LLC. Michelle Knox, owner of WindSolarUSA, a renewable energy developer in Springfield, was one of the installers interviewed for Rosen's report. Knox told the Tribune she hasn't done residential solar roofs in Joliet, Aurora and Elmhurst and that she wasn't quoted regarding those places. Knox said instant permitting would help Illinois solar developers stay on schedule and meet customer expectations and would reduce the time that understaffed towns and cities have to spend on solar permitting. 'It's a great thing,' she said. 'I think it's a win-win-win.' nschoenberg@
Chicago Tribune
15-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Red tape is raising costs and slowing the adoption of solar in Illinois, report says
In Illinois, solar installers often face 'complex and cumbersome' permitting requirements that can add months — and hundreds of dollars in cost — to the simplest residential roof project, according to a new report from environmentalists and consumer advocates. In some places, installers reported having to submit applications in person, rather than via email or an online portal. One installer complained about having to place six calls just to obtain a permit that had already been approved; others said they navigate needlessly complex and drawn-out review processes or face 'wacky' formatting requirements. Among the results: The state is viewed as 'a very good market because of all the incentives, but an absolute nightmare to operate in,' an Illinois solar installer was quoted as saying. Aurora, Elmhurst and Joliet were among the places where installers reported problems. The report, released Thursday by Environment Illinois Research & Education Center and the Illinois PIRG Education Fund, calls on the state to streamline the process by adopting instant permitting software — an approach already in place in California and on the way in Maryland. Instant permitting software checks whether a project is compliant with national and local building codes and can approve a permit within a matter of minutes. Options include SolarAPP+, which was developed by the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in collaboration with building and safety experts and is offered free to local governments. '(Instant permitting) is a pretty easy way to just get more of these small-scale solar projects onto the grid faster, which can add up to a pretty significant amount of energy and ease the load on our grid,' said report co-author Theo Rosen, a climate campaigns associate for Environment Illinois. The Illinois legislature is considering a bill that would require larger municipalities to offer instant permitting for residential solar roofs. The goal is to have instant permitting included in a larger clean energy bill that will likely be considered this spring, Rosen said. She frames the issue in terms of untapped potential: In the United States, 45% of electricity use could be powered by rooftop solar, she said, but Illinois is only using about 2% of its rooftop solar potential. According to a recent report from the Greenhouse Institute and the Brown University Climate Solutions Lab, instant permitting could spur solar roof adoption by reducing barriers and lowering costs for installers and customers. Instant permitting could lead to an additional 35,000 to 36,000 home solar roofs in Illinois by 2030 and as much as an additional 300,000 by 2040, according to the report from the Greenhouse Institute, a research institute focused on climate change. Those 300,000 solar roofs could eventually save 31 to 32 metric tons of CO2 equivalent, the report said — the rough equivalent of shutting down eight coal-fired power plants for a year. In addition, the cost of a new solar roof could be reduced by as much as $2,100 by 2030 under instant permitting, and by more than $4,000 by 2040. An 8.6-kilowatt roof, about the median in Illinois, costs about $26,000 before federal and state tax incentives. Rosen's report, which draws from interviews with staff at nine companies that install residential solar in Illinois, paints a picture of a permitting process that can be long, frustrating and unpredictable. The interviews were published anonymously because of concerns about the potential for retaliation by permitting authorities. Among the towns and cities where installers said they faced obstacles was Aurora. Solar installers said Aurora moves slowly when it comes to solar permits and is known for being unresponsive, with an online permitting system that 'frankly is a joke.' A senior employee at a large solar company reported that he has had to go to Aurora in person — a 45-minute drive — just to get a response. He said he had to do that seven times in the past year: 'To me that's a big red flag that something is broken internally.' Multiple solar installers said they are wary of taking jobs in Aurora, and several said they charge their Aurora customers a premium because of the extra work involved in getting a project approved. One installer said he doesn't want to do business in Aurora: 'We had one project, and only ever one, in Aurora, because we said we're never going back.' Aurora Chief Development Services Officer John Curley responded that 96% of solar permits in the city are submitted via the online portal, and the vast majority of those users are using the portal regularly. 'We have additionally been challenging our software vendor to make portal improvements for several years and they are nearly ready to launch a newer public portal,' Curley said in an email interview. Curley wrote that while the average time it takes to get a solar permit in Aurora is 70 days, only 5.6 of those days are due to Aurora reviewing the proposal, with the rest of the time taken up by 'private sector response' and contractor registration and payment. As for the complaint that an installer had to visit seven times in one year to get responses, Curley wrote, 'Plan Review and Inspection results and responses are available 24/7 on-line. There is never a need to visit in person for this information.' In communities such as Elmhurst, installers complained about the use of third-party permit reviewers, who aren't municipal employees. 'Some places you'll submit the application and you get an approval in two, three, four days,' an installer was quoted as saying. 'But with these third-party reviewers, we submit to the reviewer, they take about a week to accept the application, then they receive payment. Once they get payment, they take another week to review. Then they have comments. They send those to us. We respond. They then take another week to review our response and make us pay. Once we've paid, they take another week to review. And then they have another round of comments, and so on.' Each round of review takes roughly three weeks, and there are often two or three rounds of comments in Elmhurst, the installer said: 'It just takes forever.' Elmhurst officials did not respond to requests for comment. Joliet also was named by more than one solar company as one of the more difficult and time-consuming jurisdictions to work with, a characterization the city disputes. 'Our city staff have successfully collaborated with over 100 contractors on various projects, including solar initiatives, and we are proud of our track record,' Joliet spokesperson Rosemaria DiBenedetto said in a written statement. 'The city of Joliet is committed to working diligently and effectively with contractors and businesses every day, offering support and guidance to ensure their success,' she said in the statement. Among the complaints about Joliet: The city requires permit applications to be submitted via an online portal that an installer described as 'confusing … with its own set of crazy requirements.' There are a variety of options for instant permitting, including privately developed software, but SolarAPP+ is a popular choice. SolarAPP+ reduced the median number of days from permit submission to passed inspection from 47.5 to 33 in a subset of 2023 cases, according to a June review by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Clean Kilowatts LLC. Michelle Knox, owner of WindSolarUSA, a renewable energy developer in Springfield, was one of the installers interviewed for Rosen's report. Knox told the Tribune she hasn't done residential solar roofs in Joliet, Aurora and Elmhurst and that she wasn't quoted regarding those places. Knox said instant permitting would help Illinois solar developers stay on schedule and meet customer expectations and would reduce the time that understaffed towns and cities have to spend on solar permitting. 'It's a great thing,' she said. 'I think it's a win-win-win.'
