Legislation to cut red tape can make solar more affordable in RI | Opinion

• Rhode Island homeowners face costly delays for solar panel installation due to slow and inconsistent permitting processes.
• The proposed Solar Cost Reduction Act aims to streamline permitting for residential solar systems without changing safety standards.
• This legislation would introduce automated tools and clear timelines, similar to systems used in over 300 other jurisdictions.
• Streamlining the process is expected to lower costs for consumers, save time for building departments, and has no impact on the state budget.

A Rhode Island homeowner who decides to put solar on their roof this spring can end up waiting weeks for the installer to receive a permit on a system that already meets every applicable code. The hardware and the installer are ready to go. The paperwork isn’t.

Those delays are not free. They add thousands of dollars to the cost of a typical installation, a cost that gets passed straight to the homeowner. With energy bills climbing, this is the kind of friction Rhode Island can’t afford and should not accept.

The Solar Cost Reduction Act, introduced to the General Assembly this session by Rep. Jennifer Boylan and Sen. Bridget Valverde, is a practical reform that updates how Rhode Island permits residential solar. It doesn’t change what gets built or weaken any safety standards. It fixes a process that can be slow, inconsistent and unnecessarily expensive.

The solution is straightforward. For routine, code-compliant systems, the state can provide automated tools to check compliance and issue permits quickly. We can set clear timelines for inspections so projects don’t sit idle. And we can make requirements transparent and consistent across municipalities so everyone knows what to expect.

The proof that this works is already in. Projects permitted through SolarAPP+, the automated platform developed by the U.S. Department of Energy, are 37% less likely to failinspection than traditionally permitted projects, and they get installed and inspected 12 days faster.

More than 300 jurisdictions across 17 states are already using automated platforms. And this is not just a blue-state idea. Texas and Florida have both passed legislation universalizing access to instant permitting. Massachusetts and Connecticut are advancing similar bills. There’s no reason Rhode Island should be the place where rooftop solar costs more simply because the paperwork takes longer.

This is also a rare opportunity to make progress without new spending. The bill has no impact on the state budget and no cost to ratepayers. Simply streamlining the process will reduce costs for consumers, save time for local building departments, and help small businesses and nonprofits lower energy bills by going solar for less.

That combination of benefits is why the bill has drawn such broad support, including from the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce, the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, the Acadia Center, Climate Action Rhode Island, and others. Business, municipal and environmental voices do not often line up behind the same policy unless it is practical, balanced and worth doing.

At the Ocean State Climate Alliance, we focus on climate solutions informed by the people doing the work to advance practical steps that lower energy costs, support economic growth, and actually get implemented.

Rhode Island doesn’t need to wait for federal funding or weaken its climate goals to make progress. We can move forward by improving the systems we control.

The Solar Cost Reduction Act is a smart place to start.

Michael Kadish is co-founder and executive director of Ocean State Climate Alliance.