This page provides a detailed description of each criterion in the Modified Pathway: Prerequisites category. It includes recommended verification for designation review, community examples, templates, and/or resources.
Learn more about the SolSmart designation process here. To access this information in a PDF document, download the SolSmart Program Guide.
Overview: Prerequisites
The SolSmart criteria are based on specific best practices that local governments and community stakeholders can implement to encourage solar energy development in their community. Prerequisite credits are essential to move forward with the SolSmart designation, whether you are aiming for Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum.
The Modified Pathway includes 8 prerequisite criteria.
PR-1 (Required for Bronze)
Provide a document that demonstrates your county’s commitment to pursue SolSmart designation.
Counties interested in pursuing SolSmart designation must indicate their commitment to supporting solar development in their community by completing the PR-1 Solar Statement Pre-requisite. The solar statement should be signed by a representative of the local government. It is preferred that the statement is signed by a Department executive or an elected official, but it does not need to go through an official approval process. The solar statement demonstrates your community’s commitment to pursue SolSmart designation. If possible, please place the solar statement on your local government’s letterhead. While the PR-1 is a commitment to the program, the best practices included in the template provided are goals to strive for and non-binding to the criteria you can pursue.
The solar statement should address the items listed in the bullets below. The statement does not need to be more than one page in length.
Recommended Verification: Provide a signed solar statement that includes:
- A commitment to participate in the SolSmart designation process
- A statement of solar goals, areas of focus or community priorities (e.g. streamlining the permitting process or supporting a non-profit led solar initiative)
- A statement of support for solar development to be inclusive and equitable for all residents
- Past achievements or programs related to solar PV and/or renewable energy
- A commitment to tracking metrics related to solar PV and/or provide a benchmark of available solar metrics (e.g. the number of installed systems, capacity, growth in residential installations, etc.)
- A commitment of staff time and resources to improve the local market for solar PV
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PR-2 (Required for Bronze)
Post a solar landing page on the county website with information that may include the county’s solar goals, educational materials and tools that promote solar, and resources for solar development (e.g. permitting checklist and information about instant/automatic permitting like SolarAPP+, solar application forms, inspectionchecklist, zoning regulations, etc.).
A solar landing page is a way to provide residents, businesses, and solar installers with important information about your county’s solar energy policies, processes, goals, and metrics from one centralized location. It is also a way to educate community members about solar energy topics like financing options and consumer protection best practices. Information and resources posted should be made available in multiple languages, as appropriate for your community, and should be available to community members in print form if requested.
Recommended Verification: Provide a link to the solar landing page.
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PR-3 (Required for Bronze)
Host countywide training for planning and zoning staff on best practices in planning and zoning for solar PV. Training must have occurred in the past two years.
Regular solar PV training is a best practice to ensure planning and zoning staff are up-to-date on strategies for incorporating solar into plans, ordinances, and development regulations. Training staff in planning and zoning best practices for solar can help them to evaluate the options available for reducing barriers to solar and enable them to customize these best practices to their local context. Training can help staff develop clear, transparent, well-defined, and consistent planning and zoning regulations and processes that provide certainty for property owners and solar developers. Training should highlight and provide links to current model codes (IRC, IBC, and NEC). Counties can host full or half-day workshops for staff within their jurisdiction (either live or online) and provide or create resources designed to help staff keep up with advances in solar planning and zoning best practices.
Recommended Verification: Provide a signed memo with details about the permit training including name of training, name of trainer, attendees (name, title, department, affiliation), date and time, location, agenda, and presentation/slides.
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PR-4 (Required for Silver)
Host countywide training on best practices for permitting solar PV and/or solar and storage systems. Training must have occurred in past two years.
Regular solar PV training is a best practice to ensure permit technicians and plan reviewers are up-to-date on new procedures, codes, and products within the solar industry. Trainings increase staff knowledge of solar energy systems and ensures they know the best procedures for permit application review and processing to ensure applications and supporting documents are compliant with building and electrical codes. Increased staff knowledge can improve processing efficiency, thereby reducing demands on staff time and resources. Training should include details on automatic permit approval technologies of residential rooftop solar PV systems (e.g., using SolarAPP+). Counties can host full or half-day workshops for staff within their jurisdiction (either live or online) and provide resources designed to help keep staff informed about advances in solar and storage technologies.
Recommended Verification: Provide a signed memo with details about the inspection training including name of training, name of trainer, attendees (name, title, department, affiliation), date and time, location, agenda, and presentation/slides.
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PR-5 (Required for Silver)
Host countywide training on best practices for inspecting solar PV and/or solar and storage systems. Training must have occurred in the past two years.
Regular solar PV training, at least every few years, is a best practice to ensure field inspectors are up-to-date on new procedures, codes, and products within the solar industry. Trainings increase staff knowledge of solar energy systems and ensures they know the best procedures for field inspections to ensure compliance with applicable state and local building and electrical codes. Increased staff knowledge can improve inspection efficiency, thereby reducing demands on staff time and resources. Training should include details on virtual, photo, or another innovative inspection practice with solar and/or solar plus storage. Counties can host full or half-day workshops for staff within their jurisdiction (either live or online) and provide resources designed to help keep staff informed about advances in solar and storage technologies.
Recommended Verification: Provide a memo with details about the inspection training including name of training, name of trainer, attendees (name, title, department, affiliation), date and time, location, agenda, and presentation/slides.
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PR-6 (Required for Gold)
Collect and post political subdivision and/or county specific energy targets for solar PV (e.g., # of installations, MW capacity, kWhs generated and/or procured) and progress against stated targets. To receive credit, counties with 10 or fewer members must collect data from at least two communities. Counties with more than 10 members must collect data from at least four communities.
County governments can provide additional capacity and support to member governments related to data collection and tracking. Key solar metrics such as the number of installations and total installed capacity can help communicate progress towards local and state renewable energy goals. Other related metrics could include the percentage of municipal energy provided by solar energy, installed capacity per capita and progress towards greenhouse gas emissions targets.
Recommended Verification: Provide a link to a webpage displaying solar PV metrics, the date of when metric tracking began, and the date the information was last updated.
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PR-7 (Required for Platinum)
Engage new communities in your county to participate in SolSmart and submit a Solar Statement. Potential designees are municipalities that are part of the county and have the jurisdiction required to achieve SolSmart designation. For counties with 10 or fewer communities, the county should support two new communities with joining SolSmart. For counties with more than 10 communities, the county should support four new communities with joining SolSmart.
Counties can help to support member communities by introducing them to Solsmart and helping them seek designation themselves. Counties can help facilitate designation by creating models and templates that can member communities can use as they adopt best practices and meet SolSmart criteria. Coordinated action can create even greater opportunities to support a strong solar market and drive down costs across a county.
Recommended Verification: Signed Solar Statements (Standard Pathway PR-1) from member communities.
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PR-8 (Required for Platinum)
Develop and/or publicize a model solar zoning ordinance template that can be refined and adopted by member communities.
A county interested in enabling solar energy development should publish a locally relevant model zoning ordinance, by including basic solar information in the zoning ordinance such as a purpose, definitions, clarification on accessory use and primary use solar, and use standards. Zoning codes that contain no or little information about solar energy can complicate the process for homes and business that want to install a solar energy system. Including basic information about solar energy improves transparency of processes and clarity of development requirements and can enhance the growth of the local solar market in an organized and efficient manner.
Recommended Verification: Link to model solar zoning ordinance on solar landing page.
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