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This article was written by WTOP’s news partner, InsideNoVa.com, and republished with permission. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors has allocated $1.2 million from the county’s year-end savings fund to help cut the cost of residential solar installations.
The one-time fee reduction program for residential solar will waive all county fees associated with installation to incentivize residents and solar contractors to install equipment on houses in the county, one of the most expensive places in the region to install residential solar, according to county documents. Neighboring Fairfax County waives all permitting fees related to residential solar installations.
Prince William’s program takes effect Sept. 1, but the future of the program in subsequent years will be subject to funding availability and board approval. The Prince William County Department of Development Services will initiate a budget request to consider making the program permanent as part of the fiscal 2025 budget process, according to a news release from the county.
“I really believe this is going to be an additional incentive on top of the county tax reduction and the federal tax credit, specifically because it takes that cost away from the permitting side,” said Mandi Spina, acting director of the Department of Development Services.
The program was favored July 25 by the board’s five Democrats, including at-large Chair Ann Wheeler, Neabsco Supervisor Victor Angry, Occoquan Supervisor Kenny Boddye, Potomac Supervisor Andrea Bailey and Woodbridge Supervisor Margaret Franklin, along with Republican Coles Supervisor Yesli Vega.
Republican Gainesville Supervisor Bob Weir opposed the proposal, saying he was concerned about the board’s short-term commitment to the program. “This seems like we’re throwing money at a problem. It’s more of a feel-good thing than it is actually good policy,” he said.
Republican Brentsville Supervisor Jeanine Lawson was absent from the vote and late to the meeting, noting she was suffering emotional hardship following the death of her dog.
The residential solar industry has seen exponential growth in Prince William County, from 14 total applications in 2016 to more than 1,000 in 2022, according to the county. The development services department saw a 297% increase in solar applications between 2021 and 2022.
Spina said in a statement the board’s allocation should meet the demand for solar project applications.
“We’ve seen tremendous growth with solar projects, and we know that growth is going to continue,’ she said. “The industry is booming at a rate that we’ve not seen in other industries. We are anticipating that the growth will continue at a steady pace or increase for the ’23 calendar year.”
Since November 2022 county staff has been working in conjunction with industry members on a residential solar working group to design the residential solar “Typical Plan,” which eliminates the need for engineers to sign and seal documents since the program includes all pertinent information about the solar installation project. The plan includes an expedited review time of five business days for solar installs and is scheduled for implementation in September, according to a county news release.
The development services department is also working to implement SolarApp+ software for the county, where residents can enter criteria for their solar project at the program’s prompting to receive approval for the project to proceed. That is set to launch as early as January 2024, Spina said in a news release.
