Over the past month, CALSSA and others have developed resources that encourage jurisdictions to adopt virtual permitting and allow solar companies to continue their business. As building department staff and local officials develop new procedures to provide services and keep residents safe during COVID-19, please share these resources with them as appropriate:

CALSSA’s letters to jurisdictions 

• CALSSA’s letter to building departments laying out the best practices for no-touch permitting and inspection, and offering to work collaboratively on implementation.

• CALSSA’s letter to AHJs explaining that workers installing and maintaining solar installations, as well as those involved in the supply chain and manufacturing, are part of the critical energy infrastructure sector and permitted to carry out their work. The audience for this letter is building department staff and local elected officials in jurisdictions following the statewide shelter in place order, rather than jurisdictions – such as those in the Bay Area – that have adopted stricter shelter in place orders.

• CALSSA’s letter to county and city officials requesting they consider the work of the solar energy industry as both capable of being done safely and as an essential service. The audience for this letter is county health officers, county administrators, county supervisors, mayors, and city council members in jurisdictions, such as those in the Bay Area, that have adopted shelter in place orders stricter than the statewide order.

Resources from code bodies and allies

• SEAC’s bulletin on how building departments can continue permitting and inspection activities during COVID-19. SEAC, the Sustainable Energy Action Committee, is a group of solar industry representatives, code officials, and building officials, that collaborate on codes and standards issues related to solar and storage.

• ICC’s Coronavirus resource page with information for jurisdictions on inspections, plan review, permitting, certifications and testing during COVID-19. The ICC, which writes the building code, is a well-respected and trusted source for building departments.

• NFPA’s guidance on virtual inspections, which lays out how the inspections work and provides tips. For more detail, building departments can review NFPA’s white paper on virtual inspections. NFPA’s 915 standard on remote inspections is in the early stages of development. Similar to the ICC, NFPA, which writes the NEC, is well-respected by building departments.

Webinars

• SEAC’s webinar from April 6, which provided an overview of virtual permitting and a deep dive on virtual inspection practices, tips, and considerations from building officials. SEAC, the Sustainable Energy Action Committee, developed the webinar in partnership with the International Association of Electrical Inspectors (IAEI), the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), and CALSSA. You will need to create a free account with IREC to access the webinar recording.

• ICC’s webinar from April 9 on how to conduct virtual permitting while maintaining safety.

• ICC’s webinar from April 13 on how to conduct thorough virtual inspections.

• NREL’s SolarAPP webinar from April 14. The SolarAPP, which is free solar permitting software for AHJs, is currently under development, and the final product will be released at the end of summer. Building departments interested in learning more or adopting alpha or beta versions should join the webinar.