Energy Storage Permitting Guidebook - Report - Page 9
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Energy Storage Guidebook
Background
California is making a historic effort to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045
while ensuring its electricity system is reliable and efficient. Driven by a series
of targeted bills and executive orders, California is working to integrate energy
storage into the power system to improve resiliency to extreme weather events
(like wildfires and heat waves), reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and lower energy
costs for ratepayers.
The Energy Storage Permitting Guidebook focuses on permitting behind-the-meter (BTM) systems that are
customer-sited, meaning they are located at homes, businesses, nonprofits, schools, and other locations to
provide energy on-site (and, typically, to the grid as well), as shown in Figure 1. The permit process plays a
critical role in protecting properties and building occupants by ensuring the design and installation of energy
storage systems meet relevant safety codes and standards.
FIGURE 1
Behind-the-Meter Electrical Equipment
Behind the Meter (BTM)
Front of the Meter (FTM)
Customer-Sited
Solar
Storage
Microgrid
Utility-scale
Generation
Transmission &
Distribution
Figure shows behind-the-meter versus front-of-the-meter electrical equipment. Behind the meter, technologies are customer-sited and can include solar,
storage, and microgrid systems. Front-of-the-meter technologies include utility-scale generation, transmission, and distribution technologies.
Source: Center for Sustainable Energy (https://energycenter.org/)
In September 2017, Assembly Bill 546 (Chiu, Chapter 380, Statutes of 2017) authorized “the Governor’s
Office of Planning and Research to provide guidance on energy storage permitting, including streamlining
[and] best practices.” Following, in September 2022, Senate Bill 379 (Wiener, Chapter 356, Statues of 2022)
provided an additional impetus for cities and counties to automate the permitting of residential, smallscale, stand-alone and paired solar systems. SB379 requires cities and counties in the state to adopt an
“automated permitting platform” for solar less than 38.4 kilowatts (kW) in nameplate capacity that may also
have an attached energy storage system. To support jurisdictions through the transition, the 2021 California
state budget included a $20 million appropriation to the Energy Commission to fund grants for jurisdictions
adopting SolarAPP+ or a similar program aimed at expediting permitting. According to legislative findings in
SB 379, such jurisdictions “can and should be required to adopt SolarAPP+ or a similar program for automated
permitting in order to promote the development of solar and storage to help meet the state’s clean energy
needs.” Since then, as of June 2025, 329 authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) have adopted automated
permitting systems as self-reported to the CEC.
The Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) created this guidebook as part of a California Energy Commission
(CEC) Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) grant-awarded project (EPC-19-026). The EPIC program
