Take Action
ASTI Newsletter | November 2013 Edition | By Eileen Hays and Thomas Yurysta
Image courtesy of Civic Solar
Implementing a streamlined solar permitting and inspection process is a high-impact, yet fairly simple, achievement for cities, counties, and even states. Having a simple process in place saves time and reduces costs for government staff, solar installers and PV owners alike.
Streamlined permitting can eliminate one of the major barriers to solar market development, while still ensuring public safety and helping local governments recover costs. Today, more and more communities across the country have successfully adopted efficient solar permitting processes for residents and businesses. Fortunately, the Solar Roadmap makes it easy for your community to achieve this best practice too by outlining actionable goals that you can pursue immediately, and are accompanied by applicable resources.
One such goal is creating and utilizing a standard inspection checklist for PV systems. Rooftop PV systems often come with numerous requirements that change with every new code cycle. A consolidated checklist with key code references and installation practices can be an effective tool for reducing time and money spent on inspections. Not only does it ensure inspectors are doing a thorough review, it also informs solar installers of best practices they should be following.
See roadmap goal P12 for sample checklists from several leading municipalities and industry organizations.
See a detailed overview on the benefits of streamlined permitting and inspection.
