Austin Energy details permitting fixes and RMC votes to create solar-and-battery working group

Austin Energy staff told the Resource Management Commission on Tuesday that a mix of process changes is beginning to reduce delays in solar permitting and interconnections, and the commission voted unanimously to form a working group to continue that work.

At the start of the meeting, Richard Genesee, vice president of customer energy solutions for Austin Energy, said the utility has emphasized a ‘‘culture of continuous improvement’’ across its solar program and identified goals to "shorten time frames, make processes easier for users, ensure cost of service alignment, maintain safety, and strengthen communication." He said those goals guide reforms such as earlier plan review, a contractor-facing portal and designated single points of contact (SPOC) for high-volume or complex projects.

"Continuous improvement is foundational to what we do at Austin Energy," Genesee said. He described changes that include moving electrical plan review earlier in the process to catch design issues ‘‘before construction, reducing costly rework and delays at the end of the project,’’ and a customer-facing portal where developers can see project status in real time.

Commissioners pressed staff on whether these changes had satisfied contractors who previously criticized permitting coordination. Vice Chair Robbins asked whether industry representatives such as Pipkin and David Levesque were comfortable with the improvements. Genesee said he had not asked those contractors directly but reported "very positive effect from these changes" and invited commissioners to identify remaining issues for follow-up.

Vice Chair Robbins read a written comment from David Levesque into the record, saying an installation he started in November "has been stuck in post installation permit paperwork for several months," and endorsing a SPOC approach and the proposed working group.

Genesee described two recent SPOC assignments: one for a large set of base battery installations he said represented "about 2,000 jobs in queue," and another for a municipal-solar effort covering about "100 locations" across the city. He said these SPOCs coordinate activity across Austin Energy and other city departments to reduce bottlenecks.

On timelines, Genesee said a typical residential install can take under a month in ideal conditions but is commonly up to three months "from soup to nuts," depending on factors such as whether a battery is included or whether transformer work is required.

After the briefing, the commission opened discussion on a proposed working group "focused on local solar and battery permitting and installation processes." Commissioners Silverstein, Lukey and Schwartz volunteered to sit on the RMC side of the working group; the chair reported the Electric Utility Commission had already volunteered three members. The motion to create the working group passed 7-0.

The working group will be tasked with continued stakeholder engagement and with reviewing coordination among Austin Energy, Austin Development Services and other city entities; the commission discussed scheduling and coordination support through staff.

What happens next: the commission will finalize its membership and coordinate meeting logistics with staff and the EUC; Vice Chair Robbins said he would place a resolution on the next RMC agenda asking city council to ask relevant departments to participate.

Sources and limitations: reporting here is based solely on the commission transcript and remarks read into the record by commissioners; where a comment was read by a commissioner on behalf of an outside contractor, the article notes that it was read into the record rather than spoken directly at the meeting.