Resource Library

This four page document contains strategies which can be pursued by HOAs to ensure their guidelines are solar friendly. The three strategies discussed are developing design guidelines, adopting a green mission statement, and conducting a sustainability audit.

New Resource Bank's solar home equity loan program offers a path to direct solar ownership for homeowners that have sufficient equity in their homes. This resource provides the bank's application packet for participation in the program and is intended to serve as a model for community banks that are interested in launching similar programs.

Santa Rosa, California was designated a Solar America City in 2008 by the US Department of Energy. This document summarizes the lessons learned from the program, and includes case studies on: implementing a uniform solar permitting process across jurisdictions; tracking local solar installations; and creating a countywide property assessed clean energy (PACE) program.

Incorporating solar energy science into the K-12 curriculum at local schools educates not only children but also the community. Visit the source link below to access free educational resources to help teachers and parents educate their children about renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, including hands-on projects and curriculum suggestions. The hyperlink below provides additional case studies as well as implementation tips and options.

Solar Best Management Practices (BMP)focus on improving the solar permitting and planning process, the fastest and most effective means to facilitate solar installations. These measures will clear a path for rapid expansion of solar energy and create models for other communities across the nation.

The City of Tucson’s Solar Integration Plan and its companion, the Greater Tucson Solar Development Plan: Strategies for Sustainable Solar Power Development in the Tucson Region, were developed to lay the groundwork for accelerated development of solar water heating and solar PV energy facilities in the region. The City's Solar Integration Plan is organized into several guidelines for action revolving around policy improvements, city leadership, and market development.

This guide provides an overview of the solar leasing third-party financing model for homeowners who are considering installing a solar electric system on their house. Also discussed are the benefits of going solar as well as key terms and definitions to be familiar with.

This 3 page excerpt describes the advantages of solar mapping, a guide to getting started, and a case study from a successful solar mapping initiative in Denver. Solar mapping can be used as an effective tool to raise awareness and interest in solar energy in your region. Solar maps provide a portal for connecting residents and businesses with local solar installers as well as financing information. Depending upon the mapping software, maps can estimate the generating capacity and cost of a solar installation by neighborhood, by block or even on the rooftop of a particular building.

Economic and equitable solar integration requires basic understanding of at least two disciplines—state utility regulation (particularly rate-setting) and principles that are considered during the valuation of incremental resource additions, specifically distributed solar resources (and the interplay between those two areas). This paper is an introduction to both of those disciplines, with an emphasis on key concepts and terms. It is designed to ensure that stakeholders engaged in these conversations (including regulators, utility staff, and solar industry) are more fully informed in those areas in order to have a common understanding of the lexicon used. (document length: 34 pages)

In Carbondale, where most installations are residential and small to medium sized commercial, the permit fee is a flat $100 for all solar projects. This is shown on the attached permit application form, in which the fee is already entered as a static field.

California AB 1801 specifies that a local government cannot base the fee for a solar permit on the value of the solar system or the value of the property on which the system will be installed. It also requires the local government to separately identify every fee charged on the invoice provided to the applicant. The definition of a solar system under AB 1801 includes photovoltaics (PV), solar water heating, and solar space heating.

This solar permit fee schedule from the City of Sacramento, is a flat fee system based on cost recovery. The fee schedule is tiered based on project size, with clear indications of the cost breakdown and associated fee for each step.

The City of Fremont has fixed fees for residential and non-residential solar permits. The City Council issued a Resolution amending the permit fee schedule to create a solar-specific fee. The fee for single family installations is $236.70. For all other projects the fee structure is based on actual costs and is broken down by component parts. These fees are published on the City's website. Click the hyperlink below to see a screenshot, or visit the webpage directly at the URL in the Source link below.

This 2-page document available on the Boulder Building Permit webpage details the solar permit submittal requirements.

This 4-page PV permit guideline document is available online and contains submittal requirements, necessary approvals, fee information, required labels and placards, and a sample site plan.

This toolkit provides clear and comprehensive information on major solar policies in the United States. While it targets local government personnel, the toolkit should be useful to a diverse audience including solar installers, customers, and advocates. The toolkit is intended to provide readers with many of the key resources necessary to understand both the basics of major policy types and some of the important nuances that should be considered when promoting or implementing such policies.

Santa Monica's Green Building Code modifies the 2010 California Green Building Code's solar pool heating requirement to clarify that spas, hot tubs, and Jacuzzis are not subject to solar heating requirements. It also adds an exemption for situations where solar pool heating would be technically infeasible. However, new pools continue to be required to have solar heating be the primary heat source.

This is a presentation by Los Angeles County Waterworks Districts (LACWD) on their experience of incoporating solar power into water system operations. The

This free Webinar discusses solar power purchase agreements (PPA), which are financial arrangemenst in which a third-party developer owns, operates, and maintains a solar PV system and a host customer (i.e., a business, municipal government, or university) agrees to site the system on its roof or elsewhere on its property and purchase the system’s electric output for a pre-determined period. Visit the source link below to access the webinar.

In an effort to reduce solar soft costs and assist local governments and other public entities seeking to install and finance rooftop solar systems, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) has developed a comprehensive toolkit on retail solar power purchase agreements (PPAs). The purpose of this Toolkit is to provide a full suite of resources that can be used by local governments interested in pursuing solar under a PPA arrangement. It focuses on the legal documents themselves, as represented by annotated model PPA and site right documents. It also contains more general guidance on RFP design and implementation, as well as further resources such as previously published reports and factsheets, other model PPAs, prior webinars, example RFPs, and executed PPAs.

This guide for local governments is a comprehensive resource to assist local governments and stakeholders in building sustainable local solar markets.

Frederick County's 2013 Solarize Frederick County program allowed residents to participate in a bulk purchase program that included significant discounts for solar PV and solar hot water systems as well as generous incentive grants. This informational two-page brochure outlines the program and its benefits. Additional information about the program can be located on Frederick County's website.

This resource provides template solar outreach materials, including brochures and advertisements, for local governments and community organizations to use when designing a solar marketing campaign. The hyperlink below displays a sample residential solar brochure and the source website below offers additional tools.

This template is a standard solar PV plan for public agencies to use for permitting applications. It is ONLY for utility-interactive central/string inverter systems not exceeding a system AC inverter output rating of 10kW on the roof of a one- or two-family dwelling or accessory structure.

This template is a standard solar PV plan for public agencies to use for permitting applications. It is ONLY for systems using utility-interactive Microinverters or AC Modules (ACM) not exceeding a combined system AC inverter output rating of 10 kW, with a maximum of 3 branch circuits, one PV module per inverter and with PV module ISC maximum of 10-A DC, installed on a roof of a one- or two-family dwelling or accessory structure.