As part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Solar Outreach Partnership, ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability USA (ICLEIUSA), the Interstate Renewable Energy Council USA and the Solar Foundation collaborated with the Centralina Council of Governments to provide a free solar zoning and permitting workshop to local government officials in the Charlotte, NC region who are interested in learning about ways to improve their solar zoning codes and permitting processes for solar facilities.
The morning portion of this workshop focused on solar codes and standards in North Carolina, with particular attention to achieving regulatory goals, developing appropriate ordinances, and enforcement.
This document is the first portion of the workshop. View additional presentation slides here.
The second portion of the workshop detailed the three primary components of the solar permitting process—the pre-application stage, application submittal, and facility inspection. For each of these steps, we offered suggestions on how to improve and streamline the permitting process in ways that benefit the permitting authority, as well as solar installers and their customers.
View presentation slides here.
After the workshop, Solar Outreach Partnership and the Centralina Council of Governments provided one-on-one assistance to city and county officials interested in pursuing changes to their solar codes and standards and/or solar permitting polices and processes.
For more Solar Resources and Complimentary Technical Assistance, please contact Solar Outreach Partnership at solar-usa@iclei.org and Centralina Council of Governments at (704) 372 – 2416.
Workshop Handouts:
- Sharing Success: Emerging Approaches to Efficient Rooftop Solar Permitting (see here)
- Webinar Series on Solar Permitting & Inspection (see here)
- Solar Outreach Partnership’s Complimentary Resources and Technical Assistance Offerings (seehere)
- Simplifying the Solar Permitting Process: Residential Solar Permitting Best Practices Explained (see here)
- Model Inspection Checklist for Rooftop PV Systems (see here)
- Just the Basics: Solar Permitting Checklists (see here)
