Open for Solar Business

Key Takeaways

Counties across the country are now "open for solar business." This phrase sums up the Department of Energy-funded SolSmart program's core mission to help local governments adopt the most efficient policies so the booming solar industry can deliver to our communities. The changing industrial and technological landscape has driven down the costs of solar electricity generation in recent years, but “soft costs” to pay for business processes or administrative delays make up approximately 64 percent of these expenses. Reducing these costs by streamlining bureaucratic requirements can save time and money for community members, local businesses and public facilities.

NACo has written before about SolSmart’s cost-free technical assistance, driven by a dedicated support team and templates for adopting best practices. Upon starting the process, the team helps our counties to find the appropriate pathway and to map the needed steps to carry your community to Bronze, Silver, Gold and - newly – Platinum designations reflective of the level of simplified administrative burdens.

Every SolSmart designee develops a solar landing page that provides all the relevant resources and information for solar installation. Like solar panels, community members will not do their best work in the dark. These pages greatly simplify the work of studying permitting, contractors, financing and other topics.

You can check out the Pulaski County, Va. site here. Designated SolSmart Gold in 2020, the county is one of three in Virginia to have achieved that rank. Pulaski County staff are continuing to make more improvements and are on track to meet their goal of achieving Platinum designation by 2024. They would be the first locality to do so. Read more about Pulaski County’s solar activities by clicking here.

For another example, you can visit the Chester County, Pa. site here. Working toward initial designation, Chester County staff have done commendable work reviewing zoning ordinances, offering planning and zoning training and making available resources that include a map showing over 2,000 solar installations by location and municipality.

If you're interested in joining them and beginning, resuming or continuing your county’s SolSmart journey, click here or connect directly with NACo's team at SolSmart@naco.org.