A bill for automated permits is gaining momentum in a state with some of the longest permitting timelines in the country.
A bill to automate Colorado’s permitting process for rooftop solar is gaining momentum despite some reservations from those who voted in its favor.
House Bill 25-1096, “Automated Permits for Clean Energy Technology,” would require counties and municipalities with more than 5,000 residents to adopt a platform for automated residential solar permitting.
The bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Lesley Smith, D-Boulder and Rep. Kyle Brown, D-Louisville stipulates 75% of the permit applications for residential solar that jurisdictions receive must be processed through the platform.
The bill passed the energy and environment committee with the house’s nine democrats voting in favor of the bill and its four republicans voted against it.
The bill also stipulates that the platform:
- will only be used for solar panel installations on existing residential buildings;
- have a maximum capacity of 200 A main service disconnect;
- and provide electrical power to single-family or 2-family residential property.
The bill also says counties and municipalities are eligible to receive funding and technical assistance from the office to implement platforms.
The Colorado Energy Office and representatives from several environmental organizations testified in support of the bill.
The bill was met with opposition from various counties across the state. Representatives from the Colorado Counties for Climate Action, Boulder county, Larimer County and a few others testified their concerns.
Boulder’s chief policy advisor, Carl Castillo said more than 90% of residential solar permits in Boulder are already approved within three days. Castillo said the bill was developed without local government input and could conflict with zoning rules.
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.
(Read: Colorado permitting red tape adds thousands to rooftop solar cost, finds study)
Although instant permitting is already used in Denver and a few other counties and towns, the bill’s proponents say 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 state launched an “Automated Permit Processing for Solar” grant program last year with $1 million in funding for local governments. Automated solar permitting is already been implemented in a few counties and in Denver, which uses the Department of Energy’s SolarAPP+, a tool that generates instant automated permits. The free web-based platform was developed for the purpose of lowering the costs and timeframe associated with solar permitting and is said to cut about 12 days off the permitting process. Nationwide, SolarAPP+ has supported 181 communities with over 46,500 permits issued, 302,350 kilowatts approved and 46,500 estimated hours saved in review time.
(See also: “OpenSolar now integrates SolarAPP+ to speed solar permitting“)
Bills to remove permitting bottlenecks are popping up across the country. New Jersey introduced a pair of bills earlier this month to streamline the state’s rooftop solar permitting. Illinois also proposed the Residential Solar Automated Permitting Act with a pair of similar bills in February.
