Yes on SB 1202 – More solar, less red tape

Rooftop solar is a great way to cut pollution, save consumers money and boost resilience, but too often red tape gets in the way. Today, in many communities it can take days, weeks, or even months to get approval for small-scale, straightforward rooftop solar installations. Given the need to transition to clean energy as quickly as possible, we can’t afford that kind of inefficiency for something as common-sense as rooftop solar.

Putting solar on the roofs of our buildings and connecting solar panels to the grid should be as fast and hassle-free as possible, without compromising quality or safety. That’s why the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory created SolarAPP+, a free tool for cities and towns to use to automate their permitting for rooftop solar and other clean energy technologies, like in-home battery systems.

SolarAPP+ is free for jurisdictions to adopt, and funds are available to help cover the technical expenses of switching to a new system. After offering grants to help municipalities adopt automated permitting, last year California became the first state to require municipalities of a certain size to adopt SolarAPP+. A number of other states also now incentivize automated permitting for solar and other clean energy technologies. Texas should be one of them.

Texas already uses a “shot clock” approach for building permits. Cities are given several business days to approve or deny a permit, and if they do not act, the applicant can instead use a qualified third-party to review the permit application. SB 1202 by Sen. Phil King (and its companion HB 2304 by Rep. Jay Dean) extends this law to include residential back-up power system permits, including for solar and batteries.