A looming crackdown on solar panel installations gave local solar companies a bit of a scare to start off the New Year.
The Santa Cruz County planning department told companies like Solar Technologies and Allterra Solar they would have stop installing “Class C” solar panels on rooftops, and switch instead to “Class A” and “B” systems, which it turns out aren’t commercially feasible yet for residences. The situation was enough to worry Jeff Parr of Solar Technologies and David Stearns, marketing director for Allterra Solar.
“The county has a climate goal and wants to reduce its emissions, and this is going to really hamper that effort,” Sterns told us last week. “And it’s going to prevent people from saving money on energy.”
Fortunately for everyone involved, county planning backed off of enforcing the new restrictions for photovoltaic systems, or PV. “The good news is we’re not going to ask for something that’s unobtainable,” says Tony Falcone, the county’s chief building official. “We’ve already allowed PV to continue forward with panels that are ‘Class C’ rated, which is what the minimum rating is.”
The new regulations, part of California’s updated building code, were three years in the development and went into effect statewide Jan. 1. They require the all-rooftop solar panels to have the same fire rating as the roofs themselves. And Santa Cruz County requires all roofs be “Class B” or “Class A.” So the same goes for solar.
But the breakthroughs to make that all possible have not happened yet.
“Apparently the solar industry manufacturers were not staying on top of this,” Falcone says.
The County has decided not to enforce the new rules so far, and the state fire marshal released a bulletin last Friday recommending all local jurisdictions hold off for now. The marshal’s office is working on emergency standards to stay the regulations’ effective date for 180 days.
“We always work with our local contractors to comply, and this caught everybody off guard,” Falcone says. “Especially the local contractors.”
