While some Western states are making it harder for the solar industry to grow, others are pushing forward.

On May 5, 2023, the Colorado State Legislature sent HB 1234 to the desk of Gov. Jared Polis. The bill would streamline residential solar permitting in the state by establishing a grant program for local jurisdictions. The grant would help local authorities make the necessary technical improvements to adopt free automated permitting software.

The law would create the so-called Streamlined Solar Permitting and Inspection Grant Program and would allocate nearly $1 million to the fund in the first year.

The legislation is intended to help the state meet its clean energy goals by improving the permitting process for residential solar installations at the local government level. The bill notes that the process is “inefficient,” and these inefficiencies add additional costs, averaging about $7,000 per project.

The bill sees greater adoption of free automated permitting and inspection software as a solution to the problem because it decreases costs and expedites the permitting and inspection process for residential solar installations.

However, many local jurisdictions have not universally adopted the software because of the high costs, time, expertise and resources it demands. The grant aims to address this problem by giving localities the technical support they need.

Data supports the use of automated software. According to an analysis of a pilot study on the SolarApp+ software, a free automated permitting software developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, local jurisdictions saved 236 hours on permit review. The software reduced the average review time to less than one day, and projects were installed and inspected an average of 12 days faster than projects using traditional methods.

If approved by Polis, the program will be up and running by June 30, 2024.

The policy would set Colorado apart from some of its neighbors that have adopted policies viewed by many as being unfriendly to residential solar, even though they possess an abundance of sun. In December, California regulators ended so-called net-metering, which pays residential solar customers retail rates for excess power they send back to the grid. Red hot Arizona previously made a similar move and now offers customers a reduced rate in a program called “net billing.”