Glendale works to ease rules for rooftop solar panels
Workers from vivint.solar install solar panels on the roof of a home in Camarillo, Calif. on November 4, 2013.
- Share via
City officials are working to speed up the process for installing rooftop solar panels to comply with a state directive.
The Building and Fire Board of Appeals voted 3-0 on Wednesday to recommend adopting an ordinance that would expedite the application process by reducing the manpower that goes into inspections.
The ordinance will now head to the Glendale City Council for final consideration. It was brought into play by AB 2188, passed by the state legislature in an effort to push cities statewide to expedite the process of getting energy-saving solar panels installed.
Single-family homes and duplexes are targeted under the new city ordinance, which requires a few revisions to city policy on panel installations.
Currently, the framing of a rooftop panel needs to be inspected by a building official, while another inspector examines the electrical side of the project, said Building Official Jan Edwards.
Under the new ordinance, only one inspector would be required for approval, but that means that individual will have to be trained in both the building and electrical aspects of the installation, she said.
But that approach was going to get underway regardless of the ordinance, Edwards said.
“We’re getting so many of the applications compared to what we were getting a year ago,” she said in a phone interview.
More and more people are looking for alternatives to paying for electricity, Edwards said.
So trimming the inspection process from two staffers to just one will free up more manpower to head to more homes and boost efficiency, Edwards said.
“The only way we’re going to keep up with demand is to be able to have more people do the inspections in one shot,” she said.
The second change the new ordinance would enact is allowing residents to apply for a solar-panel permit online, but that capability likely won’t be available until next year, Edwards said.
For now, people looking to install panels still have to head to City Hall and file an application in person.
The ordinance also mandates that solar panels cannot be larger than 10 kilowatts.