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LAFCO review finds few regulatory roadblocks for residential battery installations, recommends permitting clarifications
Summary
A consultant report to LAFCO found San Francisco largely follows standard fire and building codes and identified permitting clarifications, SolarAPP+ improvements and financial and workforce barriers as the main opportunities to accelerate residential battery energy storage deployment. No action was taken.
LAFCO on Sept. 20, 2024 heard ARUP's final study of residential battery energy storage systems prepared for Clean Power SF and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The consultant concluded the city generally follows model codes and does not present unique regulatory barriers that would prevent homeowners from installing battery systems, while recommending procedural clarifications and better coordination to streamline permitting.
The study’s lead technical presenter, Mike Lapisto of ARUP, told commissioners the report examined comparable jurisdictions and found New York City to be an outlier in restrictive measures, while most other cities follow the International Fire Code and California Fire Code in similar ways. "I could give away the conclusion, which is basically not really," Lapisto said, summarizing the team’s assessment that there are not major policy barriers in San Francisco preventing residential…
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