Bill to streamline rooftop solar permitting heads to governor’s desk
ANNAPOLIS – On Monday, the Maryland General Assembly passed SB783, to help Maryland reach its solar potential by incentivizing solar development, and streamlining permitting for residential solar installations. If signed into law, Maryland contractors will be able to apply for permits for residential rooftop solar and battery storage using automated permitting via SolarAPP+ or similar technology. The change is expected to cut permitting time to ensure a faster, more cost-effective process.
“Today, in Maryland you can get your energy straight from your roof,” said Johanna Neumann, Senior Director of the Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy with Environment Maryland. “Every sunny roof without solar panels is a missed opportunity.”
Rooftop solar reduces dependence on fossil fuels, eases strain on the grid during periods of high electricity demand, increases resilience to threats such as extreme weather, and limits the amount of land needed to produce clean energy, all at a steadily falling cost. Small-scale solar energy, of which rooftop solar is the largest component, is growing rapidly in the United States, producing 10 times as much power in 2022 as it did a decade earlier.
“Rooftop solar has all kinds of consumer and environmental benefits,” said Emily Scarr, state director of Maryland PIRG. “But, today obtaining a permit for rooftop solar and battery storage can take days, weeks, or months and can be complex, cumbersome, and costly. Maryland can’t afford that kind of inefficiency for something as common-sense as rooftop solar.”
In 2021, the Department of Energy created SolarAPP+, a free tool for localities that can make permit processing instantaneous. Solar projects submitted through SolarAPP+ are installed and inspected on average 12 business days faster than projects using the conventional process. Time savings, coupled with a uniform interface across jurisdictions, promise to make it easier, cheaper and faster to install more rooftop solar. The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) has received $4.48 million from the Department of Energy (DOE) to support adoption of SolarAPP+ by Maryland jurisdictions.
SolarAPP+ also accommodates permitting for other clean energy technologies, such as in-home battery storage, making a comprehensive shift to being able to power our lives with renewable energy easier.
“We want a future powered by clean energy, so we should be deploying rooftop solar everywhere we can,” said Kimberly Armstrong with Solar United Neighbors. “With state incentives and federal tax credits in place to boost solar adoption in Maryland, now is the time to lean in.”
Montgomery County has piloted SolarAPP+, and 240 communities across the country have signed up, including: Phoenix and Tucson, AZ; San Francisco, CA; Denver, CO; Oklahoma City, OK; and, Houston, TX.
Maryland ranks 10th in the nation for growth in small-scale solar power generation in the past decade, according to a report released in February by Environment Maryland Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group. Residential solar in Maryland grew 88% from 2017 through 2022, but is still a largely untapped resource with only 7.5% of Maryland homes having solar panels according to Energy Information Administration.
“Local governments that adopt SolarAPP+ will be able to both lower their costs and handle increased volume of solar permits. SolarAPP+ also means less waiting for permit approvals and lower solar installation costs that can turn into greater customer savings,” stated Robin Dutta, Executive Director at the Chesapeake Solar and Storage Association. “This is a significant step forward to making residential solar go mainstream.”
The bill to streamline permitting for residential rooftop solar systems was recommended by the Maryland Task Force to Study Solar Incentives. While introduced as its own legislation, the provision was added to the Brighter Tomorrow Act, sponsored by State Sen. Sarah Elfreth and Del. David Fraser-Hidalgo which would codify additional recommendations from the task force for solar incentives. A third, sponsored by Sen. Lewis Young and Del. Qi to provide grants and funding for rooftop solar deployment was also folded into the Brighter Future Act.