Call your Mayor and ask them to make it easier for local residents to go solar
Look up your Mayor’s phone number using the tool below. Here’s a suggestion for what to say. Feel free to modify as you see fit.
“My name is ___ and I live in ____. The new Solar Access Act requires cities to streamline their solar permit process to make it easier for residents to go solar. I support this. Will you comply with the law?”
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The major difference is that in California, outdated permitting requirements and staffing shortages can add months of delays and thousands of dollars to solar and battery projects.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.
The new Solar Access Act requires most cities and counties to adopt streamlined permitting [1], and you can help make sure they do.
Cities and counties currently have three paths to comply with the law to make it easier for people to go solar:
- A free software system called SolarAPP+, made by the Department of Energy and the nation’s leading building safety organizations. SolarAPP+ issues permits instantly to most residential rooftop solar projects that meet state codes. [2] More than 20 California cities and counties already use it. [3]
- A free software system called Symbium, which automatically checks for code compliance and issues permits in real time for residential rooftop solar and battery storage systems. [4]
- Cities can enhance their existing system to match the capability of SolarAPP+ or Symbium.
California has made grants available for any of the paths to compliance. The grant deadline was May 1st, but there are still funds left, and your town can still apply. It’s first-come, first-served, and the maximum amount is $100,000.
Please call your mayor and ask them to apply for the grant to help make it faster and easier for people in your town to get solar and batteries.