Call your Mayor and ask them to make it easier for local residents to go solar
The Problem: Local permitting requirements drive up the cost of going solar in California.
It is twice as expensive to go solar in California than in many other developed places. A typical rooftop solar project costs homeowners $22,800 in California. In Japan: $13,200. In Germany: $9,600. [1]
The major difference is that in California, outdated permitting requirements and staffing shortages can add months of delays and thousands of dollars to solar and battery projects. This is not necessary. It isn’t difficult to determine if a proposed project meets local and state codes.
Solution: Streamlining solar permitting can make it cheaper and faster for you and your neighbors to install solar panels and/or batteries.
There’s a new online software system called “Solar Automated Permit Processing Plus” (SolarAPP+). Local governments can use SolarAPP+ to issue permits instantly to most residential rooftop solar projects that meet state codes. [2]
SolarAPP+ was developed by the federal Department of Energy and leading building safety organizations. It is free for cities to use. More than 20 California cities and counties already use it. [3]
A new state law requires most cities and counties to adopt streamlined permitting [4], and you can help make sure they do.
More information
[2] See Note 1