A mid-2010 survey by the Sierra Club revealed wide variation in permit fees charged for commercial rooftop photovoltaic (PV) energy systems by municipalities in three counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. The survey found that fees for commercial PV projects of 131 kW in size varied from $0 to over $13,000. High fees can discourage businesses from making good, long-term, high-yield investments in solar power. 37% of the surveyed municipalities are charging fees that exceed the maximum cost-recovery levels identified in this report.

The time needed for city staff to review and inspect a commercial PV project does not vary linearly by system size. For instance, interviews conducted in the preparation of this report revealed that the difference in time needed to process a 100 kW PV project is about twice as long as a 10 kW project (not ten times as long). Basing fees on the value of the solar equipment inflates permit costs to unreasonably high levels, especially for larger, more expensive solar power projects To recover costs, therefore, permit fees should be based on specific review times and billable hourly rates and not on PV project valuations.

The authors of this study have developed a free, public fee calculator spreadsheet to help municipalities determine cost recovery: http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/PVFeeCalcCommercial.xls.

This report recommends best practices that municipalities can adopt to assure greater consistency, and help businesses develop an energy source that leads to a healthier, safer, and more stable community. These include setting permit fees at cost-recovery levels, and instituting streamlined permit processing procedures.

Links:
Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter PV permit fee campaign web site: http://www.SolarPermitFees.org.
Commercial PV Permit Fee Campaign web site: http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/commercial.html
Commercial PV Permit Fee Report (Oct. 2010): http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/PVFeeStudyCommercial.pdf
Commercial PV Permit Summary of Recommendations: http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/PVPermitRecommendCommercial.pdf

Residential PV Permit Fee Report 2008 (Northern California): http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/NorCalPVFeeReport.pdf
Residential PV Permit Fee Report 2009 (Southern California): http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/SoCalPVFeeReport.pdf