Solar PV Permit Fee Campaign News Release for Commercial Projects in Sonoma County

In the fall of 2010, Sierra Club volunteers surveyed all the municipalities in Sonoma county to determine their
estimated permit fees for installing roof-mounted photovoltaic (PV) systems on commercial and residential buildings.
Such structures can include office buildings, stores, residences, industrial facilities, schools, churches, government and
non-profit buildings. Volunteers conducted this survey for a 131 kW commercial PV project and a 3 kW residential
system. A new report has just been published for the Sierra Club’s PV permit fee campaign for Sonoma County.
Some cities have formally adopted PV permit fee schedules and provided confident survey answers. Many
jurisdictions have adjusted their fees as a result of the Sierra Club's solar permit fee campaign which began for
residential PV systems in 2007 for Sonoma County, California.

The survey shows that for commercial PV projects 131 kW in size, 44% (4 out of 9 cities) of the jurisdictions are
over-charging fees, exceeding maximum cost recovery threshold levels as determined by an innovative PV
permit fee calculator highlighted in this new report. Three cities are charging excessive fees for residential PV
projects. Kurt Newick, leader of the study states, “This survey reveals some municipalities are complementing
federal and state governments by incentivizing solar power with very reasonable permit fees, while other cities are
doing just the opposite, charging many times more than what is needed to recover costs.”

On January 14, 2011, the survey team contacted 3 municipalities that have fees exceeding $4,000 for the 131 kW
system size in this survey. The team did this to notify these cities that their solar permit fees were unreasonably high
and request that they review their solar permit fee calculation methods, since they are likely charging fees higher than
cost-recovery levels. Charging more for solar permits than the reasonable costs to administer them violates California
Government Code Section 66014, which provides that fees associated with building inspections and building permits "shall
not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service for which the fee is charged."

Since local sunlight and available roof space are plentiful, only the number of solar power installations limits the
production potential of this abundant renewable resource. This news release and solar permit fee campaign
acknowledges leaders of those cities that have already taken action to make solar energy more affordable, particularly
for businesses and non-profit entities, and ask others to follow their lead.

Sierra Club PV Permit Fee Campaign: http://www.SolarPermitFees.org
Sierra Club Commercial and Residential PV Permit Fee Report for Sonoma County:
http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/PVFeeStudySonoma.pdf

Executive Summary of Commercial & Residential PV Permit Fee Report for Sonoma County, 2011
by Sierra Club, Redwood and Loma Prieta Chapters, 2/16/2011

A fall 2010 survey by the Sierra Club revealed wide variation in permit fees charged for
commercial and residential rooftop photovoltaic (PV) energy systems by municipalities in
Sonoma County. The survey found that fees for commercial PV projects of 131 kW in size
varied from $725 to over $11,000. High fees can discourage businesses and residences from
making good, long-term, high-yield investments in solar power. Four (44% of the surveyed
municipalities that responded to this survey) are charging fees that exceed the maximum costrecovery
levels identified in this report for commercial PV projects. For 3kW residential PV
permits three cities are charging fees that are excessive.

The time needed for city staff to review and inspect a commercial PV project does not vary
linearly by system size. For instance, interviews conducted in the preparation of this report
revealed that the difference in time needed to process a 100 kW PV project is about two to three
times longer than a 10 kW project (not ten times longer). Basing fees on the value of the solar
equipment inflates permit costs to unreasonably high levels, especially for larger, more
expensive solar power projects. To recover costs, therefore, permit fees should be based on
specific review times and billable hourly rates and not on PV project valuations.
The authors of this study have developed a free, public fee calculator spreadsheet for PV systems
mounted on commercial rooftops to help municipalities determine cost recovery:
http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/PVFeeCalcCommercial.xls.

This report recommends best practices that municipalities can adopt to assure greater
consistency, and help our society develop an energy source that leads to a healthier, safer, and
more stable community. These include setting permit fees at cost-recovery levels, and instituting
streamlined permit processing procedures. You can see the detailed survey responses for each
jurisdiction at: http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/PVFeesSonoma2010.html.

olar Electric Permit Fees for Commercial and Residential Installations in Sonoma County
Report: http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/PVFeeStudySonoma.pdf

Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter Solar PV Permit Fee Campaign:
http://www.SolarPermitFees.org

This executive summary: http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/PVFeeSonomaExecSum.pdf
Key recommendations: http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/PVPermitFeeRecommend2010.pdf
Web site for Sonoma County PV Permit Fee Report for Commercial and Residential:
http://www.SolarPermitFees.org/sonoma.html