Lightning fast clean energy deployment

Permit Power is a research and advocacy nonprofit organization working to make it quicker and cheaper to install clean energy equipment.

To meet our climate goals, homes and businesses across the United States need to install 650 million new pieces of clean energy equipment, such as rooftop solar, battery storage, EV chargers and electric heat pumps. But today, inefficient permitting, inspection and interconnection processes add thousands of dollars to the price of each installation. Slow and inconsistent permitting for clean energy equipment installations could be adding over a trillion dollars to the cost of the clean energy transition.

The problem with permitting

Costs caused by poor permitting processes make up an enormous portion of clean energy equipment installation costs in the United States. Right now, homeowners are spending thousands of dollars on unnecessary costs and delays due to inefficient permitting systems.

For instance, delays from lengthy permitting processes is a big reason why it costs twice as much to install solar panels on a roof in the US than it does in many other countries.

Automated permitting for clean energy equipment installs

By automating the permit process for residential clean energy equipment, jurisdictions can streamline the permitting process and cut out costly red tape for consumers. Automated permitting allows installers to instantly verify whether the installation meets building codes, and receive an instant permit.

  • Consumers save thousands of dollars, and in some cases months of delay, per clean energy equipment installation with automated permitting

  • Over 200 cities and counties in over 12 different states have already adopted automated permitting for rooftop solar and home batteries.

  • In the two years after automating permitting for residential rooftop solar systems, the rooftop solar installation growth rate for Tucson and Pima County was over 2x that of the rest of Arizona

The most common automated permitting solution is SolarAPP+. SolarAPP+ software was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory at the Department of Energy in collaboration with a range of building safety, local government and industry stakeholders. SolarAPP+ is free for local governments, and has already been successfully implemented in over 200 cities and counties in over 12 states. SolarAPP+ is not the only automated permitting solution. Some local governments, like the City of Santa Barbara, have developed their own automated permitting software, and some jurisdictions, like Half Moon Bay, have adopted automated permitting software from Symbium, a private company.

“Permit automation could be the highest impact climate investment out there, on a dollar-for-dollar basis”

—  Co-founder, Mosaic,  Billy Parish