GOBiz posts draft Clean Energy Permitting Playbook and Toolkit, seeks public comment through Nov. 21

The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development on Wednesday released a draft Clean Energy Permitting Playbook and Toolkit designed to help California cities and counties speed permitting for large-scale solar, onshore wind and battery energy storage projects.

“California has really ambitious energy and climate goals,” said Rohima Mohali, deputy director of the Energy Unit at GOBiz, noting the state’s goal to decarbonize the electrical grid by 2045. Mohali summarized recent deployment and pipeline figures and said the playbook aims to address common bottlenecks that slow project approvals.

The draft package, posted on the GOBiz website, is the product of more than 300 outreach touchpoints with planners, local permitting agencies, councils of governments, developers, community‑based organizations, tribal entities and state safety organizations. Suna Tamas of GHD, a member of the project team, told attendees that 45% of surveyed planners felt sufficiently resourced to manage increased clean energy activity, while 74% of responding developers said permits were occasionally or frequently delayed.

“The application checklist really aims to provide a common set of application requirements for local clean energy permitting to provide more complete application submittals,” said Lakshmialy Gapanen of E3, who led the toolkit overview. The checklist lists documentation local planning departments said causes the most back‑and‑forth when missing — project descriptions, site plans, environmental studies, fire‑safety analyses and community engagement plans — and is intended to reduce initial incompleteness and speed review.

The toolkit also includes model ordinance templates and commentary for three technology types — utility‑scale battery energy storage, solar and onshore wind — to help jurisdictions set applicability, permit types (ministerial versus discretionary), design standards, setbacks and decommissioning requirements. Gapanen said the battery guidance emphasizes alignment with the California Fire Code and active coordination with local fire departments and offers setback options that vary with local context.

The playbook’s nontechnical materials include two‑page fact sheets for each technology to support community engagement, and a guide on aligning community interests that describes baseline benefits (jobs, tax revenue, local air and water improvements) and negotiated benefits such as community benefit agreements and project labor agreements.

The package also contains guidance on permitting for projects on and near tribal lands, distinguishing projects on federally held trust lands — which follow federal permitting and NEPA — from projects on non‑trust lands that follow state and local CEQA processes. Presenters emphasized the importance of government‑to‑government consultation with federally recognized tribes.

Presenters urged local governments and stakeholders to review the draft and submitted examples of local solutions. Mohali said the Public Utilities Commission has tracked roughly 28 gigawatts added to the grid since 2020 across about 416 projects and that about 20,000 megawatts are listed as under contract and expected online in 2029, figures she cited from state agency data. She and other presenters said California must maintain or increase recent deployment rates to meet statutory targets such as SB 100.

The office opened a 30‑day public comment period; presenters asked for comments via email to energyunit@gobiz.ca.gov and on the web form by Nov. 21, 2025, and said they expect to post a final version by the end of the year.

The project team said the materials are not mandatory — they are guidance and templates intended as adaptable resources for jurisdictions that choose to use them. The team also signaled plans for at least one additional workshop or webinar to support implementation and noted ongoing fire‑safety trainings organized by the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

Contact information and all webinar recordings and slide decks are available on the GOBiz website; the project team asked jurisdictions and stakeholders to share examples of how they use the materials so the office can refine future updates.