SolarTech study reports massive procedural delays for customers installing solar panels

SAN JOSE, USA: SolarTech, an initiative of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, has released a white paper, “Addressing Institutional Barriers, Opportunities for Streamlining Project Timelines” that finds for every typical 4-5kW residential system, the average 5 day on-site installation masks an average of 100-120 days in procedural work.

The paper identifies challenges within today’s solar project development cycle and suggests methods to reduce project cycle times, while creating uniform, efficient and repeatable processes, resulting in better customer service and lower administrative costs of delivering solar energy solutions.

“Reducing project time and cutting costs is critical to making mass adoption of solar a reality; Solar Tech continues to collaborate with industry leaders to provide best practices and implementation standards to achieve this goal,” said Doug Payne, Executive Director for SolarTech. “As the economy improves and more consumers consider solar as a solution, efficiency and reduced costs will become a key competitive advantage, bolstering prospects for businesses in every sector of the vast solar market.”

Solar industry leaders will have the opportunity to leverage best practices and shape future standards at SolarTech’s second annual “Solar Leadership Summit” on April 21st and 22nd, 2010 in San Ramon, California. The event will continue with its widely successful collaborative format that allows attendees to network, problem solve and share with top industry thought leaders within multiple break-out sessions. A “call for speakers” is open until February 24th for subject matter experts to submit abstracts.

Furthermore, the Innovation & Commercialization Forum during the summit will look specifically at streamlining industry practices for bringing new technologies and products to market, while minimizing potential impacts on current standards and best practices.

“SolarTech’s ground-breaking event offers an excellent opportunity for businesses, both upstream and downstream, to identify challenges and best practices to help expedite the process of bringing new innovations and products to market,” said Bettina Weiss, Sr. Director of PV with SEMI’s PV Group.

Partners for the event include the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG), Underwriters Laboratories, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), SEMI PV Group, the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) and the Department of Energy’s Solar America Board for Codes and Standards (Solar ABCs).

“Our organization is known for identifying difficult issues and implementing uniform guidelines and standards in renewable energy,” said Jane Weissman, Executive Director for the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). “Partnering at the Solar Leadership Summit fits perfectly with our goals of bringing people together to produce innovative solutions.”

“Being a partner with SolarTech at the Summit allows us to contribute to standards and best practices for the Solar Industry,” said Evelyn M. Butler, Director, Business Strategy, Energy Sector, for Underwriters Laboratories (UL). “In turn, collaborating with the participants and thought leaders helps UL to incorporate important safety measures to the acceleration of the adoption of solar energy.”