Solar Energy Policy at MARC
A Presentation for the Missouri Municipal League
9.21.2015 - Sheraton Crown Center - KCMO
Presentation Outline
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MARC
Rooftop Solar Challenge
Solar Ready KC and Solar Ready II
Solar Best Management Practice Implementation
Solar Ready Community Recognition Program
Solar Mapping
Lessons Learned
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Mid-America Regional Council (MARC)
 Non-profit association of city and county
governments
 The metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for
the bi-state Kansas City region
 Serve 9 counties and 119 cities
 Population: 2.1 million
 Area: 4,423 square miles
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What is the Rooftop Solar Challenge?
 Part of U.S. DOE’s SunShot Initiative
 Goal: Develop best management practices for
reducing the non-hardware balance-of-system, or
“soft costs” of solar photovoltaic systems
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What is the Rooftop Solar Challenge?
 Rooftop Solar Challenge I awards were made in 2011
 22 teams from across the country
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Rooftop Solar I in KC: Solar Ready KC
 Started work in KC in 2012
 Solar Ready KC Original Partners:
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Clay County, Mo.
Johnson County, Kan.
Kansas City, Mo.
Lee’s Summit, Mo.
Olathe, Kan.
Kansas City Power & Light
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Best
Management
Practices
Process
Improvements
Planning
Improvements
Financing
Options
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Rooftop Solar II: A National Effort
 MARC selected in July 2013 for Rooftop Solar
Challenge II (1 of 8 teams)
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Rooftop Solar II: A National Effort
 MARC’s approach from Rooftop Solar I was expanded
to a national scale
 Nine other regional planning councils came on-board
 Team now called “Solar Ready II”
 Solar Ready II is currently working with 275
jurisdictions that cover a population of over 22 million
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Rooftop Solar II: A National Effort
 Nine other regional planning councils are:
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Syracuse (Central NY Reg. Planning and Development Board)
Philadelphia (Delaware Valley RPC)
Phoenix (Maricopa Association of Governments)
DC (Metro Washington Council of Government)
Dallas/Ft. Worth (North Central TX Council of Government)
Portage, IN (Northwest Indiana RPC)
Cincinnati (OH/KY/IN Regional Council of Government)
Ft. Meyers (Southwest Florida RPC)
Tampa (Tampa Bay RPC)
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Coordination
 The National Association of
Regional Councils (NARC)
is coordinating the nine
regional campaigns
 Meister Consultants Group
(MCG) is helping with
capacity building and
training
 Each RPC charged with recruiting 10-30 local
governments to adopt solar-friendly best practices
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Solar Ready II in KC
 MARC expanded the reach of Solar Ready KC by:
o Working with additional local governments
o Went from working with 5 to 26 jurisdictions
o Launching new programs/projects
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Best
Management
Practices
Process
Improvements
Planning
Improvements
Financing
Options
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Planning Improvement:
Address Solar in the Zoning Ordinance
 Add provisions to the zoning ordinance to clarify and
regulate how solar is permitted
 Provisions should address:
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Where solar is permitted
Rooftop v. ground-mounted installations
Allowable mounting: angled v. flush
Height limitations
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Planning Improvement:
Address Solar in the Zoning Ordinance
 Typical language in KC region:
o Allowed in all zoning districts
o Ground mounted v. roof mounted
o Ground
o Setbacks
o Yards allowed
o Roof
o Allowed on principal and accessory structures
o Limitations on angle from roof and/or height
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Planning Improvement:
Develop Solar-Ready Guidelines
 What is solar-ready construction?
o Building orientation to maximize solar
potential
o Space to put conduit up to the roof
o Roof pitch
 Why encourage solar-ready
construction?
o Make it easier for residents to go solar
o Saves thousands of dollars upfront
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Planning Improvement:
Develop Solar Ready Guidelines
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Process Improvement:
Create a Permit Checklist
 Clarify up-front what the jurisdiction requires for
submission along with the building permit form
o Includes:
o Site plan
o Electrical diagram
o Structural worksheet
 Saves city staff and solar installer time
 MARC → Working to get all partner jurisdictions
using the same checklist document
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Solar Ready Community Recognition
 MARC program to recognize Solar Ready II
jurisdictions for implementing:
o Solar Best Management Practices (BMPs)
o Other actions that promote solar
 Levels of Recognition:
o Bronze
o Silver
o Gold
Solar Ready Community Recognition
 Communities recognized during first round:
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Gladstone, MO (Gold)
Raymore, MO (Gold)
Belton, MO (Silver)
Lee’s Summit, MO (Silver)
Liberty, MO (Silver)
 Next deadline to apply: October 2015
Solar BMPs Implemented
 All five jurisdictions addressed solar energy in their
zoning ordinances
 All five made solar-ready construction guidelines
available on their websites
 Belton, Lee’s Summit and Liberty also implemented
solar permit checklists and linked to MARC’s solar
mapping website
 Gladstone and Raymore created solar landing pages
 Gladstone also recently put solar on a city facility
 Raymore also has fixed fees for residential solar
installations
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Community Guide to Solar
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www.marc.org/solarguide
FAQs
How to get started
Why go solar
Cost of solar
Incentives
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Solar Mapping—www.kcsolarmap.org
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Lessons Learned
 Jurisdiction Recruitment
o Phone and email inquiries to staff contacts
o One-on-one meetings with staff
 BMP Implementation
o Zoning BMP: Provide examples from local peer
jurisdictions
o BMP with examples not enough—providing templates
allows jurisdictions to implement with ease
o A carrot helps! Recognition program helped spur BMP
implementation
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Laura Machala
Solar Energy Coordinator, Mid-America Regional Council
lmachala@marc.org | 816-701-8244
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