By Katie Valentine | Climate Progress
It’ll soon take just one day to get a solar permit in Chicago, thanks to a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
That’s down from the 30-day wait that Chicagoans had to endure previously if they wanted to install small-scale solar projects on their homes or businesses. The grant will also help the city cut fees for solar panel installations by 25 percent, to $275.
Chicago’s grant is just one of $60 million worth of solar grants announced this week by the Department of Energy. The grants are housed under the Energy Department’s SunShot Initiative, a program announced in 2011 with the goal of reducing the cost of solar energy by 75 percent. The grants announced this week will go toward initiatives including increasing diversity in the solar industry, making installing solar cheaper and easier for Americans, and helping kickstart solar businesses.
Here are a few of the initiatives the new SunShot grants will be funding:
Related: Which overlooked U.S. states are staged for strong solar futures?
Also: To Expand Offshore Power, Japan Builds Floating Windmills
