[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1108 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1108
To provide local communities with tools to make solar permitting more
efficient, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 26, 2011
Mr. Sanders (for himself, Mr. Boozman, and Mr. Bingaman) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide local communities with tools to make solar permitting more
efficient, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``10 Million Solar Roofs Act of
2011''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Best practices for solar permitting.--The term ``best
practices for solar permitting'' means 1 or more practices--
(A) defined by the Secretary by regulation as--
(i) promoting standardization and
uniformity for local permitting requirements
for solar energy across jurisdictions; and
(ii)(I) lowering the solar energy system
installation costs associated with local
permitting; or
(II) expediting the local permitting
process for solar energy; and
(B) identified by the Secretary through
consultation with--
(i) local governments, including each local
government that participates in the Rooftop
Solar Challenge or other appropriate solar
energy program of the Department of Energy; and
(ii) members of the solar energy industry.
(2) Challenge grant.--The term ``challenge grant'' means a
grant awarded under a competitive program to 1 or more
applicants that achieve implementation of best practices for
solar permitting.
(3) Commitment to adopt best practices for solar
permitting.--The term ``commitment to adopt best practices for
solar permitting'' means an agreement or memorandum of
understanding between the head of a local government and the
Secretary that contains--
(A) an outline of steps that the local government
commits to take to adopt best practices for solar
permitting; and
(B) a timeline for implementation of the steps
described in subparagraph (A).
(4) Installed nameplate capacity.--The term ``installed
nameplate capacity'' means the maximum output of a solar
electric system under specific conditions designated by the
manufacturer of the solar electric system.
(5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Energy.
(6) Solar energy system.--The term ``solar energy system''
means rooftop or ground-mounted solar equipment--
(A) that is used to generate electricity or heat
water in the United States; and
(B) with an installed nameplate capacity not
exceeding 1 megawatt or the thermal equivalent of 1
megawatt.
SEC. 3. TOOLS FOR EFFICIENT INSTALLATION OF SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS.
(a) In General.--As soon as practicable after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a program under which the
Secretary shall provide competitive grants or challenge grants, or
both, to local governments or consortia of local governments that have
adopted or offer a commitment to adopt best practices for solar
permitting for properties located in the United States.
(b) Implementation.--
(1) Solar certifications.--The Secretary shall provide
voluntary certification and recognition for local governments
(including local governments that receive grants under
paragraph (2)) that indicate that the local government has
adopted best practices for solar permitting.
(2) Competitive grants and challenge grants.--
(A) In general.--For each fiscal year, the
Secretary shall award competitive grants or challenge
grants, or both, to local governments and consortia of
local governments to be used in accordance with this
section.
(B) Requirements.--The Secretary shall adopt and
implement criteria for awarding competitive grants or
challenge grants, or both, under subparagraph (A) to
local governments and consortia of local governments--
(i) to promote greater standardization,
efficiency, and uniformity for solar energy
permitting across jurisdictions; and
(ii) that would--
(I) require that grant awards are
provided only to local governments or
consortia of local governments that
have--
(aa) adopted or offer a
commitment to adopt best
practices for solar permitting;
and
(bb) provided quantitative
metrics to measure success;
(II) ensure that grants are awarded
to a diversity of geographic locations
and recipients with different
population sizes; and
(III) provide a preference for
grant applicants that have partnered
with States, public utility
commissions, or other stakeholders to
adopt or enhance standards and policies
to overcome other barriers to
distributed generation (including
interconnection and net metering).
(3) Authorized use of funds for competitive grants.--
Subject to subsection (c), competitive grants provided under
this section may be used for--
(A) training for making, to the maximum extent
practicable, the local permitting process for solar
energy systems more standardized, efficient, and less
expensive;
(B) the development of materials, Internet-based
tools and application processes, and other tools or
information to make, to the maximum extent practicable,
the local permitting process for solar energy systems
more standardized, efficient, and less expensive;
(C) solar energy system deployment projects or
programs to pilot new permitting strategies or
processes; and
(D) other programs or projects to achieve the
objectives described in subparagraphs (A) through (C),
as determined by the Secretary.
(4) Authorized use of funds for challenge grants.--Subject
to subsection (c), challenge grants provided under this section
may be used for--
(A) solar energy system deployment projects; and
(B) programs to pilot new permitting strategies or
processes.
(c) Rescission for Noncompliance.--The Secretary shall rescind any
amount of grant funds that the Secretary considers to be appropriate
that is provided to any grant recipient that--
(1) receives funds based on a commitment to adopt best
practices for solar permitting; but
(2) is unable to implement the steps necessary to adopt the
best practices for solar permitting.
(d) Non-Federal Share.--The Secretary shall require that each
entity that receives grant funds under this section shall be
responsible for a matching amount (including in-kind services)--
(1) established by the Secretary for each fiscal year for
which funds are authorized; and
(2) not to exceed 50 percent of the amount of the provided
funds.
(e) Administrative Expenses.--
(1) In general.--Not more than 5 percent of the amounts
made available for each fiscal year under this section may be
used to pay the administrative expenses of the Department of
Energy that the Secretary determines to be necessary to carry
out this Act (including expenses arising from monitoring and
evaluation).
(2) Grant recipients.--Grant recipients may use not more
than 5 percent of the amounts made available for each fiscal
year under this section to pay for administrative expenses.
(f) Coordination; Consultation.--To the maximum extent practicable,
the Secretary shall consult with the Secretary of the Treasury and the
Chief Executive of each grant recipient that receives funds under this
section to ensure that each program or project carried out by each
grant recipient through the use of the funds is coordinated with each
other applicable incentive or financing program of the Federal
Government or any other applicable program.
(g) Goals.--The goals of the United States, through this Act and
any additional or existing incentive or research and development
program, are--
(1) to install distributed solar energy systems on not less
than 10,000,000 properties located in the United States by
December 31, 2020; and
(2) to achieve cost reductions in the price of solar energy
by December 31, 2020, consistent with the SunShot Initiative of
the Department of Energy.
(h) Reports.--
(1) Report regarding additional recommendations.--Not later
than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and
Commerce of the House of Representatives a report that contains
additional recommendations that the Secretary determines to be
necessary to achieve each goal described in subsection (g).
(2) Report regarding progress of grant recipients.--Not
later than 2 years after the date on which funds are first made
available under this section, the Secretary shall submit to the
appropriate committees of Congress a report that contains a
description of the progress of grant recipients under this
section in implementing and maintaining best practices for
solar permitting.
(i) Funding.--
(1) In general.--Of the amounts authorized to be
appropriated under section 641(p)(3) of the Energy Independence
and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17231(p)(3)), the Secretary
may use to carry out this section $50,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2012 through 2016.
(2) Termination.--Paragraph (1) shall terminate on October
1, 2016.
<all>