The county’s Department of Permitting Services will launch a pilot program designed to expedite the process of getting permits for residential solar installation, officials announced.
The program will pilot the Solar Automated Permit Processing (SolarAPP+), developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, according to the announcement.
“SolarAPP+ will enable the County to streamline the solar permitting process, making it easier and faster for residents to generate solar energy on their rooftops, County Executive Marc Elrich said in a press release. “We are very thankful and appreciative to now have a presidential administration that is addressing climate change as seriously as we are.”
SolarAPP+ is industry-supported through the Solar Energy Industry Association. The pilot will begin in August in phases with select solar installation companies. The goal is to reduce the time to review and processing time for solar installations.
DPS will evaluate the pilot program in the fall with the intent of submitting an executive regulation to allow use of SolarAPP+ by all applicants for solar permits.
“Superior CO Solar Panel Install” by Dave Dugdale is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0