PROJECT PERMITSimplifying Municipal Solar Permitting Practices

Vote Solar ‘Get Some Sun’ Webinar June 5th, 2013

AAgenda

Galen Barbose, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Sky Stanfield, Interstate Renewable Energy Council

Annie Lappé, Vote Solar

Sean Milch, Clean Power Finance

Project Permit

Webinar Agenda

The Importance of Reducing “Soft” Costs for PV Market Development

Galen Barbose and Ryan WiserLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Vote Solar WebinarJune 5, 2013

This work was funded by the Solar Energy Technologies Program, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of

the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Residential PV Price Trends in the US: There’s More than Just Hardware!

4

$0

$2

$4

$6

$8

$10

$12

$14

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Installation Year

Total Installed Price (Median)

Global Module Price Index

Implied Non-Module Costs

Residential & Commercial PV Systems ≤10 kW

2012

$/W

DC

Source: Preliminary results from LBNL’s forthcoming “Tracking the Sun VI”. The Global Module Price Index is Navigant Consulting’s module price index for large-quantity buyers (Mints, 2012). Implied Non-Module Costs are calculated as the difference between the Total Installed Price and the Global Module Price Index.

PV Pricing in Germany Reveals Potential for Soft Cost Reductions• The installed price of residential PV is significantly lower in Germany than in the

United States, due primarily to differences in “soft” costs

• Potential factors contributing to low soft costs in Germany:– Widespread deployment and market longevity greater installer experience– Regular declining FiT and high competition among installers– Simple, certain value proposition leads to low customer acquisition costs– Lower market fragmentation– Less onerous permitting-inspection-interconnection processes

German sys-tem

module inverter other hardware

installation labor

customer acquisition and system

design

PII permitting fee

sales tax overhead, profit and

other residual

costs

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

3.00

0.01 0.22 0.24 0.360.62000000000

00010.12 0.09 0.21

1.17

$ 20

11/W

Cost difference

of $3.04/W

Sources of US-German residential system price differences in 2011

5Source: LBNL, “Why Are Residential PV Prices in Germany So Much Lower Than in the United States?”

Non-Hardware “Soft” Costs Dominate Prices, Consist of Multiple Elements

• Permitting fee and labor hours vary across 18,000 jurisdictions

• Total PII labor hours/install cluster around 15 to 25 hours

• Permit fees can be as high as $2000 per install

6

Source: RMI, based in part on data from NREL

Permitting, inspection, and interconnection

With Broader Definition of Permitting Impact, SunRun Report Shows that…

• Local permitting and inspection can add:

– $0.50 per watt for residential PV

– $2,516 per residential install

• Installation delays from permitting procedures average 3.5 weeks

7

Clean Power Finance Installer Survey Further Demonstrates Impact• Permitting processes vary

widely among locales and usually involve 2 distinct agencies (and up to 5) each with different processes

• AHJs require, on average, nearly 8 work weeks to complete their tasks

• The staff time of the installer averages 14.25 hours

• More than 1 in 3 installers avoid selling in an average of 3.5 jurisdictions because of permitting difficulties

8

Analysis of U.S. DOE’s Rooftop Solar Challenge Adds Further EvidenceBased on a detailed analysis of 44 California cities participating in the Rooftop Solar Challenge, the cities with the highest-scoring permitting practices for residential PV:

• Have lower average system prices: $0.27 to $0.77/W (4%-12%)

• Have shorter development times: around 24 days (25%)

Both relative to the lowest-scoring cities in the California sample

9

Germany Demonstrates the Benefits of Streamlined Permitting Procedures

10

0

5

10

15

20

25

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

8.5

1.7

3.2

0.3

4.3

0.2

2.9

3.0

3.7

0.10.0

0.0

0.00.0

0.0

0.0

0.1

Permitting, Inspection, Interconnection requirements

Incentive Application

Completing Interconnec-tion

Completing Permit Inspection

Submitting Permit Package

Preparing Permit Package

Permit Fee

h/system $2011/W

$.24/W

$.03/W

22.6h

5.2h

The Bottom Line…

• For residential PV, the only viable path to dramatically lower costs & increased deployment is to focus on non-hardware “soft” costs

• Streamlined local permitting procedures is one critical leverage point for reduced cost and delay

• The Vote Solar’s Project Permit is one of many important resources and efforts targeting this critical issue

11

Sky StanfieldInterstate Renewable Energy

Council

Project Permit: Best Practices in Residential Solar Permitting

Nine Best Practices by Vote Solar and IREC Developed following review of permit

process improvements across the country Available at www.projectpermit.org, under

“best practices’ Sharing Success: Emerging Approaches to

Efficient Rooftop Solar Permitting– http://www.irecusa.org/wp-content/uploads/

FINAL-Sharing-Success-w-cover-revised-final052012.pdf

Project Permit: Best Practices in Residential Solar Permitting

1. Permitting information is available and easily accessible online at a single location

– Checklists, Solar Guidebooks– http://www.irecusa.org/wp-content/uploads/

permitting-handoutv6-1.pdf

2. Expedited review for simple systems– Solar ABC’s Expedited Permit Process– Over-the-Counter or Electronic Processing– Within One Day

3. Electronic and online permit processing4. No more than one trip to the permit office

Best Practices in Residential Solar Permitting

Vote Solar/IREC Permitting Best Practices: http://votesolar.org/best-practices/

5. Fair, flat permit fees that reflect the time needed to process permit applications

– Calculate actual review time on 80%– Aim for less than $400 for residential

permits

6. No community Specific Installer Licenses– Standard certification for installers

(NABCEP)

Best Practices in Residential Solar Permitting

Vote Solar/IREC Permitting Best Practices: http://votesolar.org/best-practices/

7. Reduced inspection time windows– Exact time or Windows Below 2 Hours– Call ahead, online tracking or other tools

8. Only one inspection—eliminate unnecessary review and inspections

– See IREC Inspection Guidelines– Combine structural, electrical and fire

9. Permitting staff trained in solar—plan check and review staff as well as inspectors

– PVOT training is free and accessible– https://www.nterlearning.org/web/guest/course-details?ci

d=402

Best Practices in Residential Solar Permitting

Vote Solar/IREC Permitting Best Practices: http://votesolar.org/best-practices/

PROJECT PERMITA tool to empower citizens to work with local governments to improve solar

permitting practices.

Introducing SolarPermit.org a Wiki for Solar Permitting Requirements

Sean MilchClean Power Finance

Introducing SolarPermit.org: The National Solar Permitting Database

• Free, online database that hosts permitting information and data for cities and counties across the nation

• Funded by a $3MM grant from the Department of Energy

• Aims to reduce addressable inefficiencies in the permitting process

• Database is ‘crowd sourced’ -- populated by installers, building department employees, and civic-minded individuals

Get Involved with SolarPermit.org and Project Permit Today

• Help us simplify the solar permitting process and drive down the cost of residential solar by adding permitting data to the database

• Data that you contribute to SolarPermit.org will populate Project Permit’s website and enable jurisdictions with the best permitting practices to gain recognition

Questions?