Title
Resolution Authorizing a Commitment to Making the City of Ann Arbor a Solar Ready Community
Body
Whereas, In December 2012, the Ann Arbor City Council passed the Climate Action Plan (CAP) <http://www.a2gov.org/departments/systems-planning/energy/Documents/CityofAnnArborClimateActionPlan_low%20res_12_17_12.pdf>, an ambitious multi-strategy vision to reduce our community-wide emissions 8% by 2015, 25% by 2025, and 90% by 2050, relative to year 2000 baseline emissions levels;
Whereas, 20% of the Climate Action Plan’s 2025 electrical savings goal is slated to be met with solar photovoltaics (or equivalent) (i.e., 2.4 MW installed each year, for the next ten years for a total of 24 MW);
Whereas, The U.S. Department of Energy, SunShot and Rooftop Solar Challenge programs and other National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) studies have found that lack of solar-specific zoning and related building permitting within a community can actually dampen the local solar market by increasing the installed cost for solar systems for consumers;
Whereas, The City of Ann Arbor has hosted numerous SunShot-related educational programs in an effort to increase solar awareness and interest in the community; and,
Whereas, The Michigan Energy Office has funded the Clean Energy Coalition (CEC) to build upon the SunShot Initiative and to develop a Solar Ready Community Guide for Michigan, complete with model and streamlined zoning and permitting guidelines (see: Solar Ready Community, Executive Summary, Attachment I); and,
Whereas, The Solar Ready Community Guide project was successfully piloted in Mid-Michigan (Saginaw, Bay City and Midland) and subsequently successfully adopted by several other communities in the state; and,
Whereas, The Ann Arbor Energy Commission has determined that Ann Arbor has the potential of generating up to 78.5 MW of solar power annually; and,
Whereas, The Energy Commission finds that the Solar Ready designation would provide the necessary platform to enable the solar energy components of the Ann Arbor Climate Action Plan and passed this resolution on February 9, 2016; and
RESOLVED, The City of Ann Arbor support efforts to make the City a Solar Ready Community and the Ann Arbor City Council directs all affected city departments and agencies to adopt the Clean Energy Coalition’s Solar Ready Community guidelines towards the goal of securing the designation of Solar Ready Community for the city.
Sponsored by: Councilmembers Smith, Briere and Warpehoski
As Amended by Ann Arbor City Council on June 20, 2016
<http://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/rooftop-solar-challenge> - The DOE SunShot program estimates that soft or “plug-in” costs of solar account for as much as 64% of the total cost of a new solar system. The DOE Rooftop Solar Challenge aims to reduce the cost of rooftop solar energy systems through improved permitting, financing, zoning, net metering, and interconnection processes for residential and small commercial photovoltaic (PV) installations. Launched in February 2012 the aggregated efforts of Rooftop Solar Challenge I <http://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/rooftop-solar-challenge-round-1> teams cut permitting time by 40% and reduced permitting costs. The Michigan Energy Office, Solar Ready Community program with Clean Energy Coalition found similar results in Michigan. A more recent NREL study (<http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy15osti/64746.pdf> page 16, Figure 4) found that permitting costs could be reduced by 3.5% of the installed cost with streamlined zoning and permitting programs.