Governors' Wind Energy Coalition U.S. seeks to speed rooftop solar growth with instant permits Source: By Nichola Groom, Reuters • Posted: Sunday, July 18, 2021 July 15 (Reuters) – The Biden administration on Thursday will roll out a tool that enables instant local permitting of rooftop solar installations, addressing a major source of industry delays and possibly lowering costs for homeowners, the Energy Department said. The Solar Automated Permit Processing (SolarAPP+) platform, developed by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, will be an optional portal for local governments to process permit applications automatically. Approvals typically take a week or more currently, and permit-related costs can account for about a third of installers’ overall costs, DOE said. The software speeds the process up by standardizing requirements, streamlining the application and automating some approvals.