Denver bringing more residential solar projects to market faster
Published on April 23, 2024
Last year, Denver Community Planning and Development (CPD) adopted SolarAPP+, a plan review software program developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) that can run compliance checks and process building permit approvals as “quick permits.” Now, single-family/duplex projects that include energy storage systems, main electrical panel upgrades, and main electrical panel deratings related to the solar photovoltaic (PV) system installation are allowed to use SolarAPP+ to aid in processing these applications as “quick permits” without the need for a city plan review.
“The expansion of Denver's SolarAPP+ program is an exciting advancement for the city,” said Manish Kumar, CPD executive director. “The mayor has set a bold goal to re-envision the development permitting process and reduce city review time by 30 percent in 2024. Innovations like this are a prime example of our department working to use all available avenues to improve the city’s permitting process.”
Since CPD launched the use of SolarAPP+ last year, the city has issued 759 solar permits – saving city staff approximately 320 hours of total review time. To use SolarAPP+, licensed contractors who have registered as an installer with SolarAPP+ need to submit their project details through the tool, and then upload the SolarAPP+ confirmation to the city’s online e-permits system to obtain their quick permit.
“Denver’s implementation of SolarAPP+ has been a tremendous help in streamlining the adoption of rooftop solar within the city,” said Ben Long, co-owner/utility and permitting coordinator for Namaste Solar. “The new system allows for instant approval of nearly all our residential permits so we can provide customers with quicker installation timelines. These efficiency gains allow Namaste Solar, a local and employee-owned company, to continue providing the best service for our customers. We are excited about Denver’s embrace of new technology commitment to expanding the number of service offerings eligible for approval in the new system.”
“The SolarAPP+ team is proud to have helped Denver demonstrate that automated permitting can be done safely in Colorado for a wide range of solar and storage projects,” said Jeff Cook PhD, SolarAPP+ program lead at NREL. “We think that Denver is a model for how other communities in Colorado and nationwide can deliver safe, instant, residential clean energy permitting.”