A state with some of the longest permitting timelines in the country shredded a bill that was intended to speed up and reduce costs for installing rooftop solar.
A greatly reduced version of a bill that would have required most of Colorado to adopt automated permitting passed the Senate and is awaiting the governor’s signature or veto.
The final version slashes out the 19 pages of the introduced version, which would have required automated permitting for residential solar installations in counties and municipalities with more than 5,000 residents. Reduced to a single paragraph, the new plan gives counties and municipalities that are awarded grant money from the state’s automated permitting grant program up to three years to use the funds instead of 180 days.
(Read: Colorado’s push for a faster path to rooftop solar gains momentum)
Colorado’s Automated Permit Processing for Solar grant program was launched in 2023, so the bill is not creating anything new. Instead, the “Automated Permits for Clean Energy Technology Act” allows grant recipients to take longer to adopt automated permitting. The act will also permit the Colorado energy office to spend up to 9% of the money remaining in the grant program’s cash fund as of Sept. 1, 2025, for paying the direct and indirect costs of the office in administering the grant program.
The legislation won’t require additional funds to be shifted to the Colorado Energy Office nor will it increase taxes. However, because it gives grant awardees up to three years instead of 180 days to use the funds to adopt the software, it may result in additional costs for the state’s residents who wish to go solar.
(Read: Colorado permitting red tape adds thousands to rooftop solar cost, finds study)
Colorado has some of the longest permitting timelines in the Western United States as of December 2024. A recent study from Brown University said that streamlining and standardizing Colorado’s rooftop solar permitting systems would result in an additional 32,000 to 34,000 home solar systems by 2030. These additional households resulting from smart permitting could save a combined $1 billion on bills, said the study.
Although instant permitting is already used in Denver and a few other counties and towns, the bill’s proponents said Colorado will only get the full benefits and cost savings from instant permitting if jurisdictions across the state, rather than just isolated cities and counties, begin to offer the automated permitting.
The $1 million total available in Colorado’s Automated Permit Processing for Solar grant program awards funding on a first-come, first-serve basis. The program accepts applications on an ongoing basis, which can be done here.
The grant program provides financial assistance to local and tribal governments to implement automated permitting software, such as SolarAPP+ or Symbium. The platforms are free to adopt, so the grant money goes toward related necessary expenses for staff time, information technology, training, installation, third-party consulting, ongoing maintenance for up to three years from implementing the software, and hardware and equipment. Automated solar permitting has already been implemented in a few Colorado counties and in Denver, which uses the Department of Energy’s SolarAPP+.
Nationwide, more than 275 jurisdictions across the 13 states have implemented SolarAPP+, reducing permitting times from weeks to minutes. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, projects that go through SolarAPP+ are safer, and fail an inspection review 29% less often than when permitted through traditional review.
Bills to remove permitting bottlenecks were popping up across the country this legislative session, with bills underway in Illinois, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Minnesota and Massachusetts. California adopted SolarAPP+ last year, with Maryland following suit later that year (while Maryland’s mandate for automated solar permitting does not specifically require SolarAPP+, the state incentivizes its adoption through grants).
During the House’s testimony, the Colorado Energy Office and representatives from several environmental organizations testified in support of the bill when it was in committee. The bill was opposed by various counties across the state.
The bill passed 24-10 with all 22 of the Senate’s Democrats and two Republicans voting in favor, and ten Republicans voting against it. In the House, it passed with 41 Democrats and one Republican voting in favor, and one Democrat and 21 Republicans voting against it.
The bill was sent to Gov. Jared Polis after Colorado’s General Assembly adjourned, so under the state’s law, he will have 30 days instead of the normal 10 to veto or sign the bill, or it will become law by default.
Colorado is 12th in the country for its residential solar capacity and 14th per capita, according to Solar Energy Industries Association.
