The bill aims to curb unnecessary permitting delays and fast-track residential solar panel and energy storage installations.
The Texas Senate unanimously passed a bill to speed up the permitting process for home solar and energy storage installations.
S.B. 1202 aims to expedite the approval process by allowing authorized third parties, such as a licensed engineer, to review development documents and conduct inspections required by regulatory authorities to install home backup power generation instead of by the regulatory authority. The authorized third party would then be required to provide notice of the results within 15 days to the regulatory authority.
Notably, once the third-party submits the notice, the person can immediately begin construction of the home backup power installation on their property. Additionally, the bill requires a regulatory authority to issue an applicable approval, permit, or certification within two business days of receiving the notice.
The bill extends Texas’s current approach to building permits, which gives allows permit applicants to use a qualified third-party to review their application if the city does not approve or deny it after several business days, to include residential back-up power system permits, which includes solar and batteries.
The bill “targets costly, unnecessary barriers that delay installations and inflate costs – barriers that disproportionately burden families in need of reliable backup power,” Texas Association of Business said. “By fortifying Texas homes against future disasters like the 2021 Winter Storm Uri – which left 2.7 million households in the dark and disrupted water access for 12 million – this legislation will empower homeowners with the security they deserve, reaffirming Texas’ unwavering independent spirit.”
Representatives from Tesla, the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance and the Texas Solar and Storage Association testified in support of the bill. The cities of Georgetown, Irving, Sugar Land and San Antonio testified against it.
While the bill does not require SolarAPP+, Houston is currently piloting the platform. Developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the automated permit processing platform is free for jurisdictions to adopt, and funds are available to help cover the technical expenses of switching to a new system.
Bills to remove permitting bottlenecks are popping up across the country. The New York Senate and House passed bills that require municipalities to adopt solar permitting platforms. Similar bills are also underway in Illinois, Colorado, New Jersey and Massachusetts. California became the first state last year to require large municipalities to adopt SolarAPP+, with Maryland following suit later that year (while Maryland’s mandate for automated solar permitting does not specifically require SolarAPP+, the state incentivizes its adoption through grants). According to NREL’s most recent annual report of SolarAPP+, 167 jurisdictions had either fully adopted (97) or were piloting (70) the platform through the end of 2023.
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