The following resources can assist cities in increasing solar adoption and could assist in cities in earning a SolSmart designation. For more information on the requirements to achieve SolSmart designation, view the SolSmart Program Guide.
Planning, Zoning and Development
Cities should identify restrictions in their community which intentionally or unintentionally prohibit solar PV development and take actions to remove these restrictions. To begin, cities can allow accessory use solar PV by right in all major zones, unless it is a special-use or a historical district. For historical districts cities should provide guidance on when/how solar PV can be used.
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Cities can also incentivize solar in parking lots, vacant lots, landfills, or other underutilized land.
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Cities should also provide developers with Solar Ready Construction Guidelines to enable lower cost installation of future solar PV.
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Finally, cities can begin to integrate solar PV and/or shared solar into relevant local plans, such as energy, climate, or comprehensive plans.
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Inspection
To streamline the inspection and approval of solar PV projects, cities should ensure inspectors and permitting staff are cross-trained. Additionally, cities should attempt to minimize the number of inspections required and the amount of time between inspection request and scheduling of inspections.
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Community Engagement
To encouarge the adoption of solar, cities should create a solar landing page with information on the community’s solar goals and local resources.
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In addition to creatinga solar landing page, cities can inform consumers of their right to use solar PV.
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Additionally, cities can provide resources on active solar installers and information on incentives. Incentives could be through the Property Assessd Clean Energy (PACE) financing program, or through local incentives (i.e. permit fee waivers or rebates).
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Provide information to consumers about differnt solar PV financing options, including commercial options, such as the Property Assesed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program, or through local incentives (i.e. permit fee waivers or rebates).
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When possible, cities should provide incentives for solar PV (through PACE or through their own incentives) or support/host community-group purchase programs.
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Cities can host workshops with non-profits and/or the general public to discuss solar PV opportunities and policies.
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Finally, cities can provide education to encourage consumers to integrate solar PV with other distributed or emerging technologies such as storage, combined heat and power systems or electric vehicles.
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