STAND. COM. REP. NO. 163-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: H.B. No. 2614

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 2614 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RENEWABLE ENERGY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require government entities in the State that issue building permits to:

(1) Implement, by January 1, 2025, SolarAPP+ or a functionally equivalent online automated permitting platform that verifies code compliance and issues permits to licensed contractors for solar distributed energy resource systems in real time; and

(2) Adopt a self-certification process for solar distributed energy resource systems that are not SolarAPP+ compatible in areas served by an investor-owned electric utility.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority; Hawaii State Energy Office; Blue Planet Foundation; Recycle Hawaii; Clean the Pacific; Ulupono Initiative; Green Party of Hawaiʻi; Climate Protectors Hawaii; Kauai Climate Action Coalition; Hawaii Food Industry Association; Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi; 350Hawaii.org; The Solaray Corporation dba Inter-Island Solar Supply; Inception Financial LLC; Hawaii Solar Energy Association; Alternate Energy Inc.; Greenpeace Hawaii; Canadian Solar; Sunrun; Sunnova; Tesla; and numerous individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu; Board of Professional Engineers, Architects, Surveyors, and Landscape Architects; and Associated Builders and Contractors, Hawaii Chapter.

Your Committees find that the building permit process can add substantial burdens to energy projects in terms of time and cost. This measure would expedite and improve the permitting process for solar photovoltaic and energy storage installations by requiring building permit-issuing government entities to implement SolarAPP+ while also providing the flexibility of implementing an alternate but functionally equivalent online automated permitting platform or a self-certification process for solar distributed energy resource systems that are not compatible with SolarAPP+.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water & Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2614, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2614, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water & Land,

____________________________ LINDA ICHIYAMA, Chair

____________________________ NICOLE E. LOWEN, Chair