Cut away red tape for solar power
Solar panels on the roof of a Long Island home Credit: Michael E. Ach
Before residential solar energy can become a major power source on Long Island, we have daunting obstacles to overcome. Despite Long Island Power Authority rebates, initial cost is one. But a collaboration between LIPA and the planning commissions in Nassau and Suffolk has begun to knock down one of those barriers: bureaucratic delay.
Solar installers have to cope with different permit requirements from one municipality to another, and unnecessarily long waiting times. But LIPA and the two commissions put together the Long Island Unified Solar Permitting Initiative, to get towns and villages to pass ordinances that adopt a common approach to solar permits: a common application form, low fees and action on completed applications within 14 days.
As a carrot, LIPA offered $15,000 in "implementation assistance" to towns that adopted the plan before the end of 2011 and $5,000 to the first 10 villages each in Nassau and in Suffolk. Port Jefferson Village got in just under the deadline. In Suffolk, where the planning commission and towns have become accustomed to working together on issues, nine of 10 towns have adopted the unified solar approach, and East Hampton is on the verge. In Nassau, none of the three towns have yet acted.
This clearing of the bureaucratic underbrush is worth doing. LIPA should think about extending the incentive money, though at a slightly lower level, to be fair to those who met the original deadline. And municipalities that haven't signed on should get with the program.
