Homeowners and business owners usually want to get benefits of solar power and freedom of using electricity but….! Without any struggle, getting benefits would never be possible, right? However, the hassle of navigating the permitting process. Therefore, to ease this part of the process installers usually handle the solar permit process on their customer's behalf.?
Many AHJs have made considerable progress in simplifying the process, but it can still burden contractors. Reducing solar permit costs and avoiding delays is critical to profitable projects. Having expert support ensures faster approval, smoother workflows, and satisfying customers. Here are our top tips for reducing solar permit costs and approval times.
To reduce the costs in your solar permitting process, you can use these practices:
- Simplify Requirements: Use clear and consistent guidelines, such as a checklist or template, to make the requirements easier for applicants to understand. Additionally, tools such as apps+ automate and standardize permit review for residential systems, reducing approval time significantly.?
- Digital Platforms: AHJs can create digital platforms where applicants can submit and track permits, reducing paperwork and speeding up the process. Moreover, automated systems can review and check for common application errors, ensuring all the essential details are met before human review. Overall, it will save time for both applicants and staff.?
- Cut Fees and Time: To encourage renewable energy adoption and solar panel installation among low-income households, you can reduce permit fees. Create criteria for faster approval of solar permits in standard residential projects. For example, using a pre-approved design or meeting certain safety standards can skip the usual detailed review, making it a simple project much quicker and saving time for applicants and reviewers.?
- Qualified Staff: A trained team makes work much more manageable. So, equip staff with knowledge about solar technology and standard installations to minimize and simplify reviews. Moreover, assign specific teams to focus on a particular area solely, such as solar permits, for faster and more efficient work.?
- Communication: Clear communication is necessary for any authority to maintain the ability to provide guides, FAQs, and customer support to help applicants understand the entire process. Also, the customer support team must be able to resolve customers' queries quickly to avoid delays.?
- Collaborate: You can collaborate with local solar industry professionals to identify pain points and improve them accordingly with practical feedback. This will allow you to understand the challenges people are facing.
By implementing these tips and strategies, AHJs can make significant improvements and solar permitting faster, more affordable, and more efficiently. Along with this, it will encourage people to step into renewable energy. For more such informative blogs, stay connected with solaroot.?
We're here to help ease the permitting and engineering process. Contact us to learn more.?