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Industry pitches automated permitting and remote inspection to cut ‘soft’ costs for rooftop solar
Summary
Solar companies and nonprofit groups told legislators that automated permitting, remote inspections and SolarAPP+ could reduce soft costs that make U.S. residential solar far more expensive than peer countries, and urged Massachusetts to adopt statewide platforms and standards.
Installers, software vendors and nonprofits told Massachusetts lawmakers that permitting and inspection delays — the so-called "soft costs" — are a major reason rooftop solar is far costlier in the U.S. than in countries such as Australia, and that automated permitting and remote inspections can reduce cost and time to install.
"SolarAPP Plus stands for solar automated permit processing," Matthew McAllister, chief executive officer of the SolarAPP+ Foundation, told the committee, describing software that automates local plan review and can issue instant permits. He said SolarAPP+ is free for…
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