Staff from NREL and GRID Alternatives Colorado install rooftop solar panels during a volunteer event. Residential solar PV installations like these can benefit from NREL’s free SolarAPP+ automated permitting software. Photo by Joe DelNero, NREL.
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A typical rooftop solar system in the US costs two to three times more than it does in Australia. The hardware — solar panels, racking systems, inverters, and such — cost about the same. So, what makes solar so expensive in the US? Permitting and politics, primarily.
In the US, you could have ten identical homes constructed by the same builder from the same plans and if all ten homeowners wanted to put solar panels on their roofs, they would need ten separate building permit applications, which would be individually scrutinized by local building officials. Once they were approved, they would be sent to the local utility company, where more functionaries would examine them once again to ensure they met all applicable codes and bureaucratic requirements.
The review process can take six months or more to complete, and in the end, anything that does not align with every jot and tittle of local regulations can cause the whole process to get derailed, leaving the homeowner with no option other than to go back to square one and start again. All that official scrutiny creates delays that translate into higher costs.
