Symbium partners with the City of Saratoga to issue instant solar and energy storage permits
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
SAN FRANCISCO — August 28, 2024 — Symbium is proud to announce its partnership with the City of Saratoga with the launch of instant permits for residential solar and battery storage systems. Powered by Symbium — the Complaw® company whose technology translates complex laws and regulations into simple workflows — this groundbreaking platform verifies code compliance in real time and automates the issuance of solar and energy storage permits, lowering the costs for permit applicants and homeowners and increasing the speed of installing residential solar energy systems in Saratoga.
Saratoga is already a leader in clean-energy homes. Saratoga residents receive carbon-free, renewable energy through Silicon Valley Clean Energy. The City is also reducing the community’s reliance on household natural gas appliances and heating systems through its 2019 Green Building Ordinance, which requires newly constructed buildings to use electricity for space and water heating. The adoption of Symbium’s expedited permitting solution furthers the City’s support and implementation of a cleaner, lower carbon community.
About California’s SB 379 Solar Permitting Mandate:
Symbium’s development of its solar permitting platform was catalyzed by SB 379. SB 379 is a recent California law that requires most California cities and counties to implement a platform that checks for code compliance and automates the issuance of permits for residential solar energy and storage systems. Such mandates to streamline the permitting of decarbonization projects are likely to proliferate as California and other States strive to meet the United States’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035.
Uniquely Symbium:
Real-Time Code Compliance. Symbium automatically verifies compliance with State and local regulations, ensuring that every residential solar and battery storage system adheres to the required standards. Symbium’s solution is SB379-compliant.
Instantaneous Regulatory Analysis. Symbium provides immediate, substantive feedback on why a scope of work meets or fails to meet regulatory requirements, allowing solar installers to quickly and easily revise their proposals to comply with the code.
Streamlined Permitting Process. Symbium emails the completed, code-compliant application package directly to the City. Symbium automatically checks for a valid contractor’s and business license, instantly ensuring that only qualified professionals are submitting applications. After the applicant pays the City’s permit fee invoice, the permit will be issued.
California jurisdictions are invited to get in touch with Symbium to learn more about how Symbium can help streamline solar and other decarbonization permit processes in their communities. Symbium is currently enrolling California cities and counties in two pilot programs for solar permits and express, no-plan permits.
Benefits of instant solar permits:
The automatic analysis of code compliance requirements and instant permit issuance not only ensures that every application meets the necessary safety and regulatory standards, decreases costs for homeowners and permit applicants, and increases the speed of solar installations.
With the launch of this online platform, not only will Saratoga comply with California’s SB379 solar permitting mandate, it positions itself as a leader in fostering renewable energy adoption while prioritizing efficiency, safety, and sustainability.
“We are thrilled to introduce this state-of-the-art online platform, which marks a significant step towards promoting renewable energy adoption and enhancing the ease of doing business in our community,” said Mayor Yan Zhao, City of Saratoga.
How to apply for instant permits in Saratoga using Symbium:
To get started with applying for a residential solar permit in Saratoga, visit www.saratoga.ca.us/SolarPermit.
About Symbium:
Symbium is a San Francisco-based company that is reinventing the citizen-to-government experience, with an initial focus on permitting and incentives for residential decarbonization projects (e.g., installation of solar panels, energy storage, heat pumps). Homeowners and contractors use Symbium to instantly understand and visualize what’s possible on a property, and then submit and manage permit and rebate applications. Key to this disruption is Symbium’s proprietary Complaw® technology, which enables a Turbotax-like mechanization of regulatory analysis and was initially developed by the founding team at Stanford AI Lab. Symbium is an awardee in the esteemed Third Derivative, Uptake Alliance, and IMPEL cohort of climate tech companies, the winner of the 2023 Association for Corporate Growth Awards in San Francisco, was a finalist in the 2022 ALP Alain Colmerauer Prolog Heritage Prize, has been recognized as a GovTech 100 company in 2023, 2022, and 2021, is a 2021 American Bar Association Women of Legal Tech award recipient, and is a 2020 Ivory Prize awardee for innovations in regulation and policy to achieve housing affordability. Symbium is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
For press inquiries, contact press@symbium.com
