Lakeland Electric aims to streamline its solar permitting process

LAKELAND — Lakeland Electric is exploring ways to make the process of going solar easier for residents and its own staff.

Scott Bishop, LE's assistant general manager of energy delivery, said at Monday morning's City Commission meeting that the municipal-owned utility is seeing a record number of customers interested in installing solar photovoltaic panels at home. Lakeland Electric received 55 applications in 2020 and 285 in 2022.

What's happening in Lakeland is part of a larger trend: There's been a 33% in solar across the U.S. in the last decade, with 45% of all new power generation capacity coming from solar, Bishop said.

"We had to take a hard look ourselves as this thing starts to grow and make sure we can meet the need," he said. "We've heard frustrations, some difficulties as we need to educate, engage and inform our customers on making those choices for their homes and how we implement those safely and effectively."

Dale Marquardt, a city building official, took a harder look at what's happening when customers submit solar permit applications to the city for review.

"We all received many of the same emails last summer from residents who thought the city permitting process was too challenging," he said.

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Marquardt said the majority of complaints fell into three categories: the number of requirements, turnaround time on applications and differences between Lakeland and other jurisdictions.

Lakeland does not have any specific solar requirements, Marquardt said. He said all submitted plans are reviewed by city staff to make sure they meet minimum standards in the state building code, Florida Fire Prevention Code and National Electrical Code.

"Licensed engineers and installers should not have a problem ensuring that solar systems meet the proper specification and codes," he said.

The city received 384 permit applications in 2021 and 2022 from 94 different contractors, Bishop said. The quality of the applications received has varied greatly. Bishop said Lakeland Electric is working with those companies frequently in the area to try to teach them and get familiar with the city's process.

"The biggest obstruction to quick turn around is having to return plans to applicants for corrections multiple times," he said.

Roughly half of all solar applications received in the past two years were approved on first review or with one round of corrections. Many applications had to undergo multiple rounds of reviews for approval, according to Marquardt, typing up city staff and delaying the process.

The city has worked to streamline the application process for those looking to install solar on their homes. Lakeland has moved from a general application to a specialized "Solar only" application and a simplified checklist. Marquardt said descriptions were simplified, links were installed and illustrations provided examples for contractors.

So far, Lakeland has approved approximately 84% of this year's applications without multiple rounds of revisions.

Lakeland learned about SolSmart, a no-cost technical assistance program offered by the U.S. Department of Energy, to help local municipalities accelerate the growth and use of solar power in their communities.

Marquardt said the city had SolSmart review its processes, from permit processing to consumer education, in order to provide guidance. Lakeland received a Silver designation, on a scale of Bronze to Platinum, of how well trained city staff are and how friendly its solar permitting process is.

By comparison, Sarasota and Tampa have both earned Bronze designations, according to Marquardt. Orlando has received a Gold level standard for its processes.

Marquardt said the city is in conversations with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory about a system that could automate that application process for 75% to 80% of all solar panel permits. Those looking for large commercial use or a complex residential configuration would still need to use a manual review.

"It's like TurboTax for solar paneling," Marquardt said.

Bishop said right now Lakeland Electric is using customers' individual email addresses to send documents back and forth.

"It's a little archaic," he said.

The utility is looking to build a self-service web portal for its customers, Bishop said. Individuals could submit a solar panel permit application, then the system would run them through the process and allow them to drop documents in for review.

"We recognize the fact we need to redo our process and get better, otherwise resource consumption is going to get too high," Bishop said.

Lakeland Electric needs to rethink its relationship with customers as homeowners become "grid operators," essentially, Bishop said, as they will be producing solar energy and giving it back to a grid. Bishop said he believes the utility will be good until about 2035, when he predicts about 20% to 30% of Lakeland Electric's customers will have solar panels on their homes or businesses. The utility will need to figure out how to provide reliable energy — solar varies based on the weather — along with possible batteries, better management and software to get the best leverage of these solar systems.

Are you a Lakeland Electric customers who has recently installed solar on your home? Tell us about your experience. Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7545. Follow on Twitter @SaraWalshFl.