"SunShot Prize: Race to 7-Day Solar" started yesterday

[DanKegel]

http://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/sunshot-prize-race-7-day-solar

"GOAL AND PRIZES
Reduce permit-to-plug-in times towards seven days for PV systems ≤100kW (small system contest) or seven weeks for PV systems ≤1 MW (large system contest) and win cash prizes totaling $10 million."

Competition just started; first progress report due Jan 19, 2016.

One of the teams is even aiming for same-day solar installation and permitting. May as well aim high, I guess.

[solarix]

All right! Go Sunshot! this is what we need. I could drop my pricing dramatically if the interconnect process was only 7 days. Could get to a 5 year payback I think - and that would really open up the solar market to a lot of people that can't justify it now. However, most of the building departments we work in still take a month to do the permit and the local utility (APS) is currently "overloaded" with solar applications and is taking 2 months to get the paperwork "approved". We spend half our manhours creating paperwork, pushing paperwork, and checking on paperwork. Please, can the authorities just trust us licensed, bonded, insured, and certified installers to do our job without all the oversight?

[solar pete]

http://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/sunsh...ce-7-day-solar

"GOAL AND PRIZES
Reduce permit-to-plug-in times towards seven days for PV systems ≤100kW (small system contest) or seven weeks for PV systems ≤1 MW (large system contest) and win cash prizes totaling $10 million."

Competition just started; first progress report due Jan 19, 2016.

One of the teams is even aiming for same-day solar installation and permitting. May as well aim high, I guess.

Crickey, is this open to non us residents? We have a good system in OZ thats all online and takes about 5 mins to get an approval to install number, then we have to book a meter change over or reprogram and we are done, this is for a standard install on a roof, ground mount or tilt frames require more work, engineering etc

[SunEagle]

Crickey, is this open to non us residents? We have a good system in OZ thats all online and takes about 5 mins to get an approval to install number, then we have to book a meter change over or reprogram and we are done, this is for a standard install on a roof, ground mount or tilt frames require more work, engineering etc

Since it is being funded by the US DOE, I would say off shore installers need not apply.

I wish there could be more interest by installers in Florida but our POCO's have the state pretty much locked up.

[solarix]

No, Sunshot is just a U.S.A. program. You Aussie's already have ez install / low cost solar.

[DanKegel]

The US clearly has some catching up to do. I think Solar Pete was rubbing it in

[solar pete]

No, Sunshot is just a U.S.A. program. You Aussie's already have ez install / low cost solar.

Yep, we have it pretty good down under, it wasnt always the case it took a while for the online system to get up and running, and iron the bugs out, but it is a good system now.

[Naptown]

Here in the US every town county and state have different requirements. Utilities vary from 3 days to 3 months for PTO
Inspections generally 2 days of waiting as electric has to come first and then building ( have no idea why building cimes out all they ever ask for is if the electric passed and maybe count the collectors.)
7 days would be like a dream come true

[DanKegel]

Next week supposedly all California cities are required to speed up solar permitting a bit:

http://www.calseia.org/ab2188