Permitting and

Soft Costs Solar Focus 2014

Marta Tomic, Maryland Energy Administration

Elizabeth Youngblood, MassCEC

Matthew Mooney, E.ON

Brendan Reed, SolarCity

Moderator:

Efforts to Reduce Soft Costs in

Massachusetts

Elizabeth Youngblood Project Manager – Solar Programs

• Overview of MassCEC

• Snapshot of Clean Energy Economy in Massachusetts

• Efforts to reduce soft costs

1. SunShot Rooftop Solar Challenge

2. Solarize Mass Program

Outline

MassCEC Statutory Mandate

Advance Clean Energy Technology

Create Jobs

Develop a Trained Workforce

Accelerate Deployment of Clean Energy

Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry is Significant

Clean Energy Industry

$10 Billion Industry

2.5% of Gross State Product

88,372 jobs 2.4% of total Massachusetts workforce

5,985 firms 2.7% of total Massachusetts companies

Solar PV Industry

12,112 jobs in Solar PV industry 13% of Clean Energy jobs

1,415 Solar PV and Solar Thermal firms

Net Metering and SREC Program

687 MW Installed Capacity Over 17,000 solar PV projects

Rooftop Solar Challenge SunShot I • Permitting and structural review best practices • Community Shared Solar Guide SunShot II • Expansion of regional facilitation across 5 states • Residential Solar Loan Program • Trainings on technical, permitting, & structural

best practices • Model Solar Zoning Guide

Goals of Solarize Mass • Increase education

through community outreach

• Introduce model to simplify process

• Reduce time to contract

• Reduce installation costs

• Increase adoption

Equipment Costs

“Soft” Costs

Sales

Installation

State Average

Equipment Costs

“Soft” Costs

Installation

Solarize Mass

Drive down the cost stack

Program Results to Date

Year Communities Contracts

Signed Avg. Contracts

per Community Capacity

(kW) Avg. Capacity per Community (kW)

2011 4 communities 162 40 829 207

2012 17 communities (13 proposals)

803 47 5,146 302

2013 R1 10 communities (9 proposals)

551 55 3,838 383

2013 R2 15 communities (10 proposals)

932 62.1 6,142 409

Total 46 communities 2,428 15,955

• 2012: 20% cost savings, 2013 R1: 18% cost savings • See ~10% forfeiture rate in program (consistent w/ rebate market)

Solarize Mass Adoption 2011 - 2013

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100

150

200

250

300

350

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Solarize Mass Communities

DuringSolarizeMass

Pre-SolarizeMass

• 38 of 46 communities doubled amount of solar in community

Thank you!

Elizabeth Youngblood

Project Manager – Solar Programs

eyoungblood@masscec.com

www.MassCEC.com

MassCEC Clean Energy Group

@MassCEC

MDV-SEIA Permitting & Soft Cost Panel

Presenter: Matthew Mooney, Solar Development Manager

Contact info: E.ON, 701 Brazos St., Suite 1400, Austin, TX 78735

Office: 512.482.4015

Permitting & Soft Cost Reduction Practices

Project Siting Practices

Avoid NEPA Triggers

Critical Issues Analysis

Real Estate Due Diligence

12

Permitting & Soft Cost Reduction Practices – Cont’ed

Procurement

In house is the best house

Public relations and public policy

13

Lessons Learned

Be selective when choosing a counterparty

Avoid ambiguity for big ticket items

Fast, Cheap & Good - Pick two!

14

Improving Residential Solar PI&I

Brendan Reed

Deputy Director, Policy & Electricity Markets

November 18, 2014

“They told me that it often takes 65 days to install solar panels on a person’s home, of which 64 of those days are spent wading through the local

bureaucracy.” – California Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi

• Proposal, sale, site survey, design: Days

• Permit, inspection, interconnection: Months

• East Coast particularly challenging with so many towns/municipalities

-Massachusetts: 296 towns, 55 cities

• Low hanging fruit – NREL studies attribute 64% of residential PV costs to “soft costs” with $0.19/W directly associated with PI&I

Turnaround Times and Savings Potential

• Different forms, fees and requirements

-Every town has their own permit form and inspection process

-Fees often calculated according to cost to build project

-Unique requirements: Long Island notarizations

• Process is antiquated

-Vast majority of municipalities require physical submittal

-Time is money

• Resources are limited with the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ)

-Rapid expansion of rooftop PV straining building departments

-Not unreasonable to cite lack of resources when AHJ goes from processing 10 permits a week to 100

Main Issues Behind the Bottlenecks

• State or region-wide permit form and fee creates certainty

-Allows AHJ’s to quickly approve projects with “checklist” features (under 10kW, single family home, etc.)

-Flatten fees: As projects become standardized so should cost

-One inspection per job

• Automate EVERYTHING

-Online processing portal similar to MEA COAP becomes one- stop shop for everything needing documentation

-Electronic signatures and stamps become the norm

• Best practices – AB 2188

-Law mandates towns pass an ordinance to streamline their permit process. Includes checklist, turnaround time mandate, electronic submittal requirement, etc.

Solutions: Standardization and Automation

Thank You

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