A SOLAR MOVEMENT

Solar Freedom Now Releases White Paper ‘A Roadmap for Reducing Rooftop Solar Costs by 50%...

March 4, 2013 (Solar Freedom Now)

“Solar Freedom Now (SFN), a grass roots initiative to make solar power more affordable and accessible for all Americans, releases its White Paper: A Roadmap for Reducing Rooftop Solar Costs by 50%…Solar Freedom Now’s goal is to make 2013 the year of eliminating the paperwork and red tape that burdens solar installations…

“Solar panel prices have plummeted over the past five years. But homeowners in the U.S. still pay about twice as much for rooftop solar as homeowners in Germany. Research indicates that this large price difference is due to the high ‘soft costs’ in the U.S. – local permitting, complicated incentive documentation, exhaustive interconnection requirements, multiple inspections and all the extra time this red tape [and paperwork] requires…”

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“Numerous efforts have been made to reduce and simplify this paperwork. But like a nationwide game of mutant ‘whack a mole’ – regulations and requirements are expanding. With 18,443 cities, 3,273 utilities and 50 states – all of which have some jurisdiction over rooftop solar systems – localized efforts to simplify solar installation paperwork are not scalable across the country. This paperwork is a brick wall impeding the solar industry’s cost reduction goals.

“Solar Freedom Now is committed to reducing these soft costs on a nation-wide basis. It is a policy problem, one that new solar technologies, better software or less expensive solar panels cannot solve. We recommend the implementation of a single national policy that would grant homeowners the right to install a standardized, under 10kw system, using UL listed components, following National Electrical Code standards, installed by a qualified contractor and subject to a single local inspection…Solar Freedom Now’s first goal is to communicate the message of reducing ‘soft costs’ to the approximately 110,000 working professionals in the solar industry, as well as millions of solar power supporters across the US.”

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