The New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority (NYSERDA), New York
Power Authority (NYPA) and City University
of New York (CUNY) have developed a NYS
Unified Solar Permit that the agencies say will
reduce costs for solar projects by streamlining
municipal permitting processes.
In turn, they say, it will support the growth
of clean energy jobs across the state.
to quadruple in the amount of solar
capacity in New York that was added during
2011, officials said.
Adoption of a standardized residential/small business solar permit is a key element to help New York municipalities remove barriers to local economic development in the growing solar industry, state officials said. The standardized permit is expected to cut costs by creating a uniform permitting process in municipalities across the state.
Installers in New York state have had to work with different permits and permitting processes in each of the state’s 1,550 municipalities, which increased the complexity of permitting and have caused project delays and added costs. Extensive work to map the current permit processes involved feedback from municipalities, the New York Conference of Mayors, the Association of Towns of the State of New York, utility companies, PV installers and other stakeholders.
A copy of the NYS Unified Solar Permit and procedures is available on the Internet at http://ny-sun.ny.gov/Local-Community-Tools>. NYSERDA and NYPA provided funding to CUNY to survey municipal officials to understand the photovoltaic (PV) permitting costs, procedures and issues, as well as to develop the permit. The funding will also support outreach to help municipalities adopt the new permit, officials said.
Municipalities that adopt the unified permit and procedures are eligible for between $2,500 and $5,000, depending on population, through NYSERDA’s Cleaner, Greener Communities program to implement the new procedures. Applications will be accepted until Sept. 30, 2014, or until funds are exhausted, through the Consolidated Funding Application at https:// apps.cio.ny.gov/apps/cfa.
The new permit and implementation funding are available to communities across Upstate New York.
The NYS Unified Solar Permit is part of the NY-Sun Balance of System program, which focuses on streamlining the inspection and permitting process for local officials that, just this last spring, made available $13.5 million for demonstration projects and training. “Balance of system” refers to the soft costs of projects, generally all the up-front costs of a solar project except the cost of the solar module itself, officials said.
In addition to the unified permit, NYSERDA and NYPA released $40 million dollars to promote research into reducing the overall equipment and installation costs so that in the future solar energy is competitive with other forms of electricity and will require no government subsidies.