Friday, November 20, 2009

SolarTech launches solar industry 'permitting challenge' to showcase integrated solutions for online permit apps

SAN JOSE, USA: SolarTech convenes an industry wide competition to develop online permitting solutions that will reduce time and eliminate the redundant paperwork associated with the permitting of solar systems. This work is in-line with the consortium’s goal to reduce permitting cycle time by 50 percent by 2011.

SolarTech issued a software interoperability standard at the Solar Power International conference in Anaheim last month for different programs to exchange data using the same protocols.

The Permitting Challenge requires software providers to formulate teams with cities, integrators and utilities to develop a pilot solution and an on-line process for solar permitting. The winning team will lead a public demonstration at the SolarTech/CALSEIA Summit, April 21-22, 2010.

The application and approval process for solar PV construction permits is well recognized by the industry as an inefficient process with hidden costs borne by the integrator. The objective is for any integrator initiating a permit application over the web to expect relatively the same experience regardless of the city or county permit jurisdiction.

“Integrators cover multiple jurisdictions in the course of business and often have to travel multiple times to finalize a permit,” says Doug Payne, SolarTech Executive Director. “The process creates exorbitant hidden costs that impact profit margins, and slow down industry growth,” explains Payne.

The Department of Energy’s Solar American Board of Codes and Standards (Solar ABCs) has developed streamlining guidelines to address solar permitting, while several software companies have begun to offer online permitting services. Without the adoption of software standards, the industry risks creating software islands of inefficiencies that would only replace the current manual process.

“The Permitting Committee has been very successful this year in drafting the online software specification,” said Greg Sellers, SolarTech Permitting Committee Chair and President of Burnham Energy. “It is now time for the industry to step up to drive implementation and adoption of streamlined on-line permitting systems,” states Sellers.

“Standards and best practices are the key to efficiently scaling up solar deployment,” said Eric Alderman, SolarTech Permitting Committee Member and CEO of SolarNexus. “This is a really exciting example of how we can apply technology to the many challenges we face in the industry.”

SolarTech will announce the Permitting Challenge teams at its upcoming Permitting & Installation Symposium on December 3rd at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco (Overview and Agenda). All details pertaining to the Permitting Challenge are available at SolarTech’s web site: Permitting Challenge.

The SolarTech software interoperability standard was funded in part by a grant from the California Energy Commission. The grant’s overarching objective is to develop and promote best practices for commercial and residential solar markets. Defining innovative financial models and market mechanisms that support grid parity for solar PV are fundamental to the grant’s goals. Specific SolarTech targets within this Energy Commission PIER grant include the following:

Contribute to lowering the balance of system costs, as a percent of the current $9/Watt-peak (Wp) system costs to the projected $5/Wp system costs.
Reduce the end-to-end PV installation time from the current 25 to 50 weeks to nine weeks by 2013.

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