The Virginia Solar Permitting Map aims to document and bring transparency to the various permitting processes involved in solar facility siting in the hopes of providing a central source of truth that can be referred to when process questions arise, or changes are considered. By illustrating how the various review processes relate to one another and where public engagement may take place, inefficiencies and opportunities to streamline the process may be observed and brought forth.
The project was funded through a 4-VA collaborative research grant issued to Virginia Tech with University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center as a collaborating university. Research was led by Dr. Ron Meyers and the interactive permit map was developed by the UVA team of Elizabeth Marshall, Katie Treene, Jaden Wang, and Leila Lucy Williams.
In Virginia, solar photovoltaic energy generating facilities are subject to permitting by local, state, regional transmission, and sometimes federal organizations, depending on the location, size, owner/operator, and characteristics of the project. The prerequisites, dependencies, sequencing, and timelines associated with these permit processes are not always clear or coordinated between the permitting authorities. Given the wide range of possible impacts from development, the existing permitting process is necessarily thorough but also extremely complex and not always efficient.
Local officials charged with administering local zoning and other permits indicate that it is not always clear to them the wide range of state and federal permitting requirements that apply to projects in local jurisdictions, making it challenging for them to fulfill their responsibilities efficiently and effectively, and to provide information to local stakeholders. Solar industry professionals report that they find it hard to navigate the process with certainty, and members of the public have indicated that it is difficult to understand what permitting processes are in place to protect their interests, when they can provide input, and to whom they should submit comments.
Even small, legislated changes can result in questions and confusion, thereby causing project delays and increasing costs. The passage of HB 206 in 2022 is one example that illustrates the need for a comprehensive permit process map. This legislation only applies to projects that go through the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for a Permit by Rule (PBR); it does not address projects that go through the default State Corporation Commission (SCC) process. During Regulatory Advisory Panel (RAP) discussions to determine how HB 206 would be implemented by DEQ, participants could not agree on what the as-is permitting process was, or how DEQ PBR process changes made per HB 206 would affect information being made available for local permitting or the SCC permitting process. This process map aims to eliminate confusions such as this by bringing transparency to the ways the permitting processes relate to one another and highlighting opportunities for improved efficiencies.
Contact Elizabeth Marshall (emm2t@virginia.edu) at the Virginia Solar Intiative.