Reducing Local Barriers to the Installation
of Solar Power Systems
Background
The Loma Prieta Chapter area is blessed with abundant sunlight
which is the most plentiful precisely at the season-summer-- when
our region's electrical energy demand is greatest.
Cost remains an important barrier to the wide use of solar PV
systems. The unsubsidized price of residential solar electric
power can be greater than the direct cost of power from fossil
fuels (not accounting for the external environmental impacts)
– depending on electric rates.
Several factors including the price of materials, labor, and
permitting fees contribute to this cost. In California, financial
incentives offered by the state and federal governments have made
the economics of solar electric systems more favorable in most
of the greater Silicon Valley region. Local government actions
contribute to the cost of solar directly through permitting fees
and indirectly through varying permitting requirements and times,
which contribute to increased costs through red tape and bureaucratic
processes.
The Chapter's Residential Solar Permit Fee Studies
Starting in June 2005, the Chapter's Global Warming and Energy
Committee(GWEC)undertook a study of Solar Permit fees charged
by cities in the greater Silicon Valley region. This study compared
the cost of fees to install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and
received a great deal of press attention. The study publicized
major disparities in the fees charged by different cities and
led to actions by 24 cities (in Silicon Valley) to significantly
reduce their fees (and a total of 52 cities in the greater Bay
Area region), removing a small but important barrier to the installation
of solar PV.
Read the Residential Solar Permit Fee Study for Northern California
Read a non-technical summary of the Residential Solar Permit Fee Study
Issued June 2009: Read the Chapter's extension of its Residential Solar Permit Fee Study to Southern California cities in partnership with the Angeles Chapter
The Chapter's Non-Residential Solar Permit Fee Study
The success and recognition of the Residential Solar Permit Fee Study has
led to Chapter involvement in the regional SolarTech effort to
identify needs, metrics, standards, and barriers in the local
solar PV industry. We are committed to an ongoing systematic effort to help
reduce these barriers step-by-step.
Our latest step to reduce these barriers is completion of a survey of solar permit fees associated with non-residential PV systems.
Read about the Non-residential Solar Permit Fee Campaign's Results (Issued: April 2009)
Read an article about the results in the Chapter's Loma Prietan newsletter
|
