The Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc. (IREC) today released Sharing Success: Emerging Approaches to Efficient Rooftop Solar Permitting, a new report that outlines innovative strategies being implemented across the United States to help increase the efficiency of permitting procedures for rooftop solar systems.  The report aims to serve as both a vehicle for discussion of permitting challenges, and as a source of inspiration for communities looking for realistic and effective ways to improve solar permitting while ensuring safe solar installations.

“IREC has been a leading resource for city and county building officials by providing field inspection guidelines and workshops,” said Jane Weissman, IREC’s Executive Director.  ”The Sharing Success report becomes another valuable tool to help jurisdictions ensure safe solar installations in their community.”

Sky Stanfield, Erica Schroeder, and Thad Culley of Keyes, Fox & Wiedman LLP prepared the Sharing Success report after extensive one-on-one conversations with cities and counties regarding their permitting processes and the specific improvements they were putting in place. “As we spoke with city and county staff and to solar installers, we came to appreciate the need to develop methods that would result in efficiency improvements for both entities,” said Sky Stanfield, lead author of the report. “We found that communities are identifying permitting improvements that can save time for everyone involved.”

IREC found that the dramatic increase in the volume of solar applications is placing a burden on local permitting agencies. As a result, the desire for increased efficiency comes not only from solar installers but also from municipal staff.

At a high level, the basic process that applies for obtaining a permit for a solar system is relatively similar across jurisdictions. However, since in almost all states, city and county building departments are responsible for permitting, local variations have resulted in a patchwork of different requirements and processes nationwide.  Growing attention to the non-hardware or “soft” costs associated with rooftop systems has highlighted the need for increased consistency and improved efficiency to reduce the time and expense of permitting rooftop systems.

Sharing Success lays the foundation for the discussion of local permitting by examining the role that state and regional entities play in improving permitting procedures.  The focus of the report, however, is on the steps of the permitting process at the local level.  The report examines the pre-application stage and the importance of providing clear and accessible information to installers so that system design and applications can be done accurately from the start.  It looks at the three main methods of submitting and processing permit applications and highlights innovations from cities such as San Jose, California; Honolulu, Hawaii, and Portland, Oregon to expedite review.  The report looks at how jurisdictions can develop appropriate permit fees and also examines improvements to the inspection process.

Sharing Success allows cities and counties to see for themselves the variety of different approaches to permitting reform that are available.  The report is rich with concrete examples of process improvements being made across the United States and includes a comprehensive annotated bibliography to help readers find additional sources of information on permit processes.

“We hope that communities will see that process improvements can be tailored to the unique circumstances of each municipality,” said Sky Stanfield.   “We also highlight the economic and procedural benefits of having consistent procedures across regions and identify the value of collaborating with other jurisdictions in developing process improvements.”

Download Sharing Success: Emerging Approaches to Efficient Rooftop Solar Permitting

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc. (IREC) is a non-profit organization accelerating the use of renewable energy since 1982. IREC’s programs and policies lead to easier, more affordable connection to the utility grid; fair credit for renewable energy produced; best practices for states, municipalities, utilities, and industry; and quality assessment for the growing clean energy workforce through the credentialing of trainers and training programs.  IREC is the National Administrator for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Instructor Training Network.

Note from the Editor

Planning the Solar Highway

The transmission grid is often described as the interstate highway system of our nation’s energy supply.  It moves a lot of electricity over long distances. If you were to continue along with that metaphor, you might say that distributed generation (DG) is the newcomer to the transmission system, somewhat like the ever-increasing number of hybrid vehicles traveling on the highway system.

While around10% of our nation’s power supply currently flows from renewable energy resources, most of that comes from hydroelectric plants.  When we imagine the grid in 2020 or 2030, the picture looks much different.  Many analysts think it possible for the U.S. to achieve 25% or more renewable energy by 2025, and the SunShot initiative seeks to spur solar growth alone to 15-18% by 2030.  We’re already starting to see distributed generation facilities reach larger proportions as state policies evolve to encourage larger installations.

[Continued in Newsletter]

State News in Detail

Northeast States

Connecticut’s PURA finalizes ZREC and LREC program

Maine PUC launches voluntary green power initiative

Massachusetts DPU adopts system of assurance for net metering facilities

Mid-Atlantic States      

Virginia University projects positive outlook for renewable potential

Midwestern States       

Iowa Utilities Board declines to allow power purchase agreement

Southern States           

North Carolina utility expects growth    for net metering production incentive

Western States             

California Public Utility Commission approves expanded virtual net metering; L.A. City Council approves Feed-in Tariff

Idaho solar debate highlights potential complexities of transmission-level interconnection

Other States               

Study finds Hawaii Solar tax credits a net positive for the state

Upcoming Events

Miscellaneous News

DOE Announces new Plug and Play initiative

SEPA Announces Top 10 Solar Utilities For 2011

Download the full newsletter as a PDF: May 2012 Connecting to the Grid Newsletter

FORMAT

While customer-sited net metering and interconnection policies are primarily addressed at the state level, they are also becoming important on a regional basis. This newsletter has been designed to provide state-level policy updates and capture emerging regional trends. Connecting to the Grid is a free, electronic newsletter published each month by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc. (IREC). Click here to subscribe.

Editor: Laurel Varnado

Did you know that IREC ISPQ Certified Instructors and Master Trainers are required to document attendance at least 12 contact hours of Continuing Education or Instructor Training over your five-year award period? The requirements further stipulate specific continuing education in the following categories:

• Pedagogy, Instructional Methods, at least 2 contact hours;
• Renewable energy, energy efficiency, distributed generation specialty courses, at least 6 contact hours; and
• Safety or codes, at least 1 contact hour.

When your five-year award expires, there are requirements you must meet for recertification. You must demonstrate that you have actively taught courses relevant to your specialty during the five years. You must document the number of students you have instructed, and the student hours spent in the classroom or directly preparing course materials. You must also document training-related work such as curriculum preparation or textbook writing.  You can find details about these requirements on the IREC ISPQ site at these links:

• Application for Independent Master Trainer Certification
• Application for Affiliated Master Trainer Certification
• Application for Affiliated Instructor Certification
• Application for Independent Instructor Certification

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is soliciting comments concerning the proposed reinstatement of the BLS Green Technologies and Practices Survey.This is an employer survey and includes collecting the current employment for the establishment; collecting information on the use of environmentally friendly production processes within the establishment; and collecting the number, occupation, and wages paid to employees of the establishment performing environmentally friendly activities.

The report titled “Assessment of Incentives and Employment Impacts of Solar Industry Deployment,” commissioned by the Solar Energy Industry Association and published by the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The report outlines a variety of benefits of solar energy, which include:

• Its ability to reduce energy costs by providing much of the nation’s electricity needs during peak usage times;
• Its potential to produce hundreds of thousands of jobs; and
• Its tremendous export potential for solar manufacturing and materials.

Download the UT Report: Solar Growing as Viable US Energy Source | Tennessee Today

ARIZONA – Utility PV Rebates Run Dry in the Desert
As of May 4, the funds that UES set aside for residential photovoltaic (PV) rebates for 2012 have run out. For now, incentives are still available for non-residential PV and an assortment of other renewables.

ARIZONA – Utility Launches 2012 Incentive Program
Following a very successful 2011 program year, SRP has re-launched the EarthWise Solar Incentive Program for the 2012 fiscal year. The utility has a substantially larger budget to support a total of 12 megawatts (MW) of residential PV and 16.5 MW of non-residential PV. Residential and small commercial rebates start at $0.50 per watt and are scheduled to step down twice as MW targets are met.

CALIFORNIA – Utility’s Feed-in Tariff has a CLEAN Slate for May
City of Palo Alto Utilities launched their CLEAN program in April with a budget for 4 MW of PV for 2012. The utility announced at the end of the month that they had not received any applications, so the full budget is still available. Any takers?

FLORIDA – FP&L  PV Rebates Gone in a Flash
Florida Power & Light re-opened its PV rebate program on May 3 at 8:30 am, only to have it close less than 20 minutes later.  Approximately $3.3 million in funding was available to applicants. Another round of funding will possibly become available in the summer of 2012. Applications for 2013 funding will be accepted in October 2012.

FLORIDA – Tampa Electric PV Rebate Program Full
Funding for the Tampa Electric solar PV rebate program has been fully allocated.  Of the $1.5 million budgeted for this program annually, $1 million is reserved for PV systems.

MICHIGAN – Consumers EARP Phase 6 Closed
The sixth phase of Consumers Energy PV buy-back tariff program, EARP, closed on May 3. The next round will open in July for residential customers.

MINNESOTA – Legislature Refocuses State Public Benefit Fund and Grants
Minnesota passed a law in April that refocuses the state’s Renewable Development Fund (RDF), clarifying the purposes for which the funds can be used. The law also removes the guaranteed funding for the University of Minnesota’s Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment. Grants funded by the RDF have been suspended since May 2011, and are scheduled to re-open in July.

NEW YORK – NY-SUN-Rises
The recently unveiled NY-SUN Initiative aims to quadruple 2011 annual PV capacity installations within the state by 2013. In late April 2012, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) approved additional funding for PV programs within the Customer-Sited Tier (CST) of New York’s RPS in order to facilitate the achievement of the NY-SUN targets. The small PV incentive program was allocated an additional $13.5 million in funding for 2013 and the Geographic Balancing program was allocated an additional $36.4 million for 2012 and $40.5 million for 2013. NYSERDA must submit a revised CST Operating Plan to the PSC by June 2012.

NEW YORK – Small PV and Small Wind Get a Boost in 2012
In April 2012, the New York PSC approved a petition by the NYSERDA to reallocate unspent 2011 funds to the 2012 small PV and small wind incentive programs. The small PV program received $17.6 million in additional funding and the small wind program received $1.5 million in additional funding. The PSC also approved a revision to the small PV incentive program that allows non-profit, school, and municipal projects to be considered “non-residential” in nature, increasing the cap on incentives from 25 kilowatts (kW) to 50 kW.  PV Incentive Program.  Small Wind Incentive Program

NORTH CAROLINA – NC GreenPower Issues RFP for Large Renewables
NC GreenPower, a voluntary green power purchasing program that most NC utilities participate in, has a standard offer production incentive for PV systems 5 kW or smaller and wind energy systems 10 kW or smaller. Larger PV and wind systems and other renewables can only sell into NC GreenPower when an RFP is issued. NC GreenPower issued its newest RFP on May 1^st and is accepting applications until the end of the month. Winners will be announced in July.

OHIO – Cogeneration Facility to Allowed to Qualify for RPS
In April, the Ohio General Assembly passed SB 289, allowing cogeneration energy from a single steel manufacturing plant to count towards the RPS. In addition, the facility is eligible for certain state air quality grants.

TEXAS – Austin Energy Offers Solar Loans
Austin Energy currently offers two types of loans for residential customers wanting to finance solar water heating and solar PV systems.

WISCONSIN – Focus on Energy Revamps Renewables Programs
In April, the Wisconsin PSC issued an order under Docket 5-GF-191 revising the Focus on Energy renewables programs. The order specifies that all renewable programs must meet certain benefit-to-cost ratio minimums and energy efficiency requirements. The PSC determined that certain technologies are most likely to meet these conditions, and has limited Focus on Energy’s renewable energy rebate and grant programs to biogas, biomass, geothermal, solar thermal, and solar photovoltaic systems. The grant and rebate programs are expected to open in June and July, respectively.

A free webinar on Wednesday, June 6th from 2:00-3:00 ET, will discuss approaches being used across the country to help catalyze action at a local, regional and state level to improve the efficiency of the rooftop permitting process and will highlight specific improvements being put into place.  It will outline the pros and cons of these approaches and discuss how application of different strategies may vary depending upon the governance structure in place.  The discussion will center on examples highlighted in the Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s report “Sharing Success: Emerging Approaches to Efficient Rooftop Solar Permitting” which will be released later this month.

In this webinar, presenters  Sky Stanfield and Erica Schroeder from Keyes, Fox & Wiedman LLP will focus on the procedural components of the permitting process, rather than the technical standards, to give participants various strategies that can be used in their own communities.  The webinar seeks to facilitate discussion and to provide concrete examples of methods for improving the rooftop permitting process that benefit installers as well as local governments.

Register for the webinar

“This year’s Innovation Awards targeted initiatives aimed at supporting clean energy workforce development, community renewables, state and local government and K-12 projects,” said Ken Jurman, IREC chair. “Each of this year’s winning submissions demonstrate initiatives and best practices that are helping move clean energy technologies closer to becoming the norm rather than the exception.”

Selected through a competitive process, the 2011 Innovation Awardees include: Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association for the Colorado Fair Permit Act (state government); Joint-Venture Silicon Valley Network for the SV-REP Project in Santa Clara County, CA (county government); Cape Light Compact, Barnstable, MA, for Energy Carnivals (K-12); The Solar Foundation for the 2010 National Solar Jobs Census (workforce development); and District Energy St. Paul for the solar district energy project in Minneapolis, MN (community renewables).

State government category: The State of Colorado

Colorado’s Fair Permit Act

Lead partner: Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association
Project partners: Vote Solar Initiative, The Solar Alliance

The Colorado Fair Permit Act helps accelerate the adoption of renewable energy technologies by significantly lowering solar costs. It passed with near-unanimous support by finding common ground between Democrats & Republicans. This innovative statewide model can be replicated by other states. The legislation, which runs through 2018 – offers local communities help with streamlining permit processes based on national best practices to reduce permit costs for local communities, customers and businesses.

Local Government category: Santa Clara County, CA, Silicon Valley Collaborative Renewable Energy Procurement (SV-REP) Project

Lead partner: Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network
Project partners: The County of Santa Clara, California; Optony Inc.; plus eight other local public agencies

The SV-REP project is currently the nation’s largest multi-agency procurement of renewable energy and serves as a model for how collaboration can significantly reduce costs associated with the procurement of renewable power. The project enabled a total of 70 solar installations (over 14 MW of power), including rooftop, carport, and ground-mounted solar PV systems located at community centers, city halls, fire stations, police stations, office buildings, and other publicly owned facilities. This project realized more than $60 million in local economic development and stimulating the creation of some 300 clean tech jobs.

K-12 category: Energy Carnivals, Cape Light Compact, Barnstable, MA

Lead partner: Deborah Shiflett-Fitton, Energy Education Programs Coordinator, Barnstable, MA

Energy Education Program Coordinator Deborah Shiflett-Fitton, has designed and implemented a series of Energy Carnivals for schools and community programs which uses the talents and interests of high school students to present to younger students in their communities. A series of trainings for high school students culminates in an all-school carnival for elementary school students. Teams of eight elementary students visit 15 carnival stations, each illustrating a form of energy, renewable energy source or technology. These teams have been recognized by the National Energy Education Development Project (NEED) at the annual 2011 NEED Youth Awards Program for their efforts in public education outreach.

Workforce development category: The National Solar Jobs Census

Lead partner: The Solar Foundation
Project partners: Cornell University; Green LMI / BW Research; SEIA

For the first-time ever, the National Solar Jobs Census 2010 looked at 31 different solar occupations and proved without a doubt that the solar industry creates jobs. The Census quantified solar jobs across the entire value chain (installation, manufacturing, wholesale trade, utility, and “other”) by directly surveying employers. The Census found that the solar industry employed ~93,000 workers in 2010. Through the use of surveys, the Census uncovered where solar jobs are most prevalent, what solar jobs are growing the fastest, and which jobs are most difficult for employers to fill. The Census is widely recognized as establishing the first credible solar jobs baseline in the US and has inspired the US Bureau of Labor Statistics to include all solar occupations as part of future data collection efforts. Until the BLS begins tracking all the solar occupations across the entire value chain, TSF plans to update the survey on an annual basis.

Community Renewables: Solar District Energy Project, Minneapolis, MN

Lead partner: District Energy St. Paul

Project partners: U. S. Department of Energy Solar America Communities Program; Minneapolis Saint Paul Solar America Cities; and Minnesota Department of Commerce

District Energy St. Paul, in partnership with DOE’s Solar America Communities, developed, owns and operates a 23,000 square foot solar thermal system integrated into an urban district energy system, showing that solar energy can supplement existing district systems from both a technological and business model perspective. The solar energy produced for domestic hot water and space heating is used within the River Centre, the host site. Any excess solar energy production is distributed into the district heating network and other nearby buildings benefit. This type of solar thermal system may be employed by other district energy networks including hospitals, industrial parks, and business and academic campuses nationwide. This project has prompted three known U.S. manufacturers to explore large-scale solar thermal collectors.

Special Recognition Award Winners

Also during its Annual Meeting, IREC recognizes people and organizations that have made an extraordinary contribution to renewable energy and to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc.. This year’s IREC’s Special Recognition awardees are:

Dr. Sarah White, COWS

Dr. Sarah White, Center on Wisconsin Strategy, for her work advancing the understanding of solar occupations. Sarah is the lead person for IREC on the solar career mapping project.

Dr. Richard S. Knaub, NREL

Dr. Richard Knaub, NREL, for advancing a new IREC ISPQ Standard and credentialing scheme, and for his work developing and deploying national workforce guidelines for home energy upgrades.

Louise Urgo, IREC

Louise Urgo, IREC’s Business Manager, for her work on managing IREC’s contractual and financial transactions.

Staff, Utah Clean Energy

Utah Clean Energy, for its long list of accomplishments including successful intervention in utility regulatory proceedings to create new utility energy efficiency programs, expand existing programs and drive utility investments in efficiency and renewable energy.

The legal team of Keyes & Fox, LLP, for its impact on national rulemaking in the renewable energy regulatory space (Thad Culley, Sky Stanfield, Larry Chaset, Kathleen Kapla, Joe Wiedman, Kevin Fox, Jason Keyes, Erica Schroeder, Chris Cook).

The Solar Foundation has just released two short fact sheets on solar topics that are becoming increasingly more important to local governments.

Leasing Municipal and Private Property for Solar: Key Steps and Considerations offers general guidance on ways to unlock the revenue potential of idle property by leasing land and roof space for solar.

Solar as a Revenue Generator for Local Governments demonstrates how cities and counties have leveraged solar for their fiscal benefit.

The fact sheets were created under the Solar Outreach Partnership funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative.

In this updated version, published in December 2011 for the U.S. Department of Labor, authors Erich C. Dierdorff DePaul University and North Carolina State University; Jennifer J. Norton, Christina M. Gregory North Carolina State University; and David Rivkin, Phil Lewis National Center for O*NET Development, present the current state of the green economy, outline major workforce development challenges facing the green economy, and present updated research on green new and emerging occupations.

Download Greening of the World of Work: Revisiting Occupational Consequences

Section-by-section summary:

• Section I briefly describes the 2009 report, discussing the contributions of the occupational greening concept to the world of work and the adoption of the concept into numerous O*NET products and tools.
• Section II summarizes the 12 green sectors and presents substantial changes in green activities and technologies, comparing the occupational implications described in the 2009 report to current occupational implications.
• Section III discusses key challenges faced by the world of work due to the greening of occupations.
• Section IV summarizes the review of 24 candidate Green New and Emerging occupations, original identified in the 2009 report, for inclusion in the current O*NET-SOC taxonomy.
• Section V summarizes general conclusions on the current state of the green economy.

Seven appendices present data in Excel spreadsheet format:

Appendix A: Green Increased Demand Occupations by Sector (XLS – 61 KB)

Appendix B: Green Enhanced Skills Occupations by Sector (XLS – 70 KB)

Appendix C: Green New and Emerging Occupations by Sector (XLS – 69 KB)

Appendix D: Green Tasks for Green Enhanced Skills Occupations (XLS – 164 KB)

Appendix E: Green Tasks for Green New and Emerging Occupations (XLS – 241 KB)

Appendix F: BLS Growth Projections for Green Increased Demand Occupations (XLS – 47 KB)

Appendix G: BLS Growth Projections for Green Enhanced Skills Occupations (XLS – 54 KB)

Download Greening of the World of Work: Revisiting Occupational Consequences