The City of Sacramento has just gotten smart on solar. After much public dissatisfaction with the permitting process the city has decided to streamline their permitting for solar electric and solar water heating retrofits thereby saving the homeowner 60% in fees.
Simplifying the red tape can do wonders for the homeowner who wants to go solar as well as your local solar installation company. According to the Sacramento Bee “As California races to its goal of adding a million solar roofs by 2018, solar providers say their efforts are being bogged down by a lack of uniform permitting standards, cutbacks at city and county building departments, and costly and arbitrary fees.”
In response, the City of Sacramento has developed a flat fee for residential installations that are less than 4kW and solar water heating systems that are 50 gallons or less. This is great news for solar, coming just in time for homeowners who want to complete their solar installation and receive their 2011 tax credits and rebates.