II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3099 

To require the Secretary of Energy to further develop and support the 

adoption of a voluntary streamlined permitting and inspection process 

for authorities having jurisdiction over the permitting of qualifying distributed energy systems, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 19, 2023 

Mr. HEINRICH (for himself, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. KELLY, Mr. PADILLA, 

and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Energy to further develop and 

support the adoption of a voluntary streamlined permitting and inspection process for authorities having jurisdiction over the permitting of qualifying distributed energy systems, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Streamlining Home 

5 Installation of New Energies Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘SHINE 

6 Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM TO FACILITATE 

2 VOLUNTARY STREAMLINED PROCESS FOR 

3 LOCAL PERMITTING OF QUALIFYING DIS4 TRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS. 

5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 (1) AUTHORITY HAVING JURISDICTION.—The 

7 term ‘‘authority having jurisdiction’’ means any 

8 State, county, local, or Tribal office or official with 

9 jurisdiction— 

10 (A) to issue permits relating to qualifying 

11 distributed energy systems; 

12 (B) to conduct inspections to enforce the 

13 requirements of a relevant code or standard re14 lating to qualifying distributed energy systems; 

15 or 

16 (C) to approve the installation of, or the 

17 equipment and materials used in the installa18 tion of, qualifying distributed energy systems. 

19 (2) QUALIFYING DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYS20 TEM.—The term ‘‘qualifying distributed energy sys21 tem’’ means any equipment or materials installed in, 

22 on, or near a residential building to support onsite 

23 or local energy use, including— 

24 (A) to generate electricity from distributed 

25 renewable energy sources, including from— 


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1 (i) solar photovoltaic systems or simi2 lar solar energy technologies; and 

3 (ii) wind power systems; 

4 (B) to store and discharge electricity from 

5 batteries with a capacity of at least 2 kilowatt 

6 hours; 

7 (C) to charge a plug-in electric drive vehi8 cle at a power rate of at least 2 kilowatts; or 

9 (D) to refuel a hydrogen fuel cell electric 

10 vehicle. 

11 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

12 the Secretary of Energy. 

13 (b) PROGRAM.—Not later than 180 days after the 

14 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consulta15 tion with trade associations and other entities representing 

16 distributed energy system installers and organizations rep17 resenting State, local, and Tribal governments engaged in 

18 permitting, shall carry out a program to further develop, 

19 expand, and support the adoption of a voluntary stream20 lined permitting and inspection process for authorities 

21 having jurisdiction to use for the permitting of qualifying 

22 distributed energy systems. 

23 (c) ACTIVITIES OF THE PROGRAM.—In carrying out 

24 the program established under subsection (b), the Sec25 retary shall— 


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1 (1) further develop and expand an exemplary 

2 streamlined permitting process that includes an on3 line permitting platform— 

4 (A) for expediting, standardizing, and 

5 streamlining permitting; and 

6 (B) that authorities having jurisdiction 

7 may voluntarily use to receive, review, and ap8 prove permit applications relating to qualifying 

9 distributed energy systems; 

10 (2) establish targets for the adoption of a 

11 streamlined, expedited permitting process by au12 thorities having jurisdiction; 

13 (3) provide technical assistance and training di14 rectly or indirectly to authorities having jurisdiction 

15 on using and adopting the exemplary streamlined 

16 permitting process described in paragraph (1), in17 cluding the adoption of any necessary building codes; 

18 (4) develop a voluntary inspection protocol and 

19 related tools to expedite, standardize, and streamline 

20 the inspection of qualifying distributed energy sys21 tems, including— 

22 (A) by investigating the potential for using 

23 remote inspections; 

24 (B) by investigating the potential for sam25 ple-based inspection for distributed energy sysVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 20, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3099.IS S3099

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1 tem installers with a demonstrated track record 

2 of high-quality work; and 

3 (C) by investigating opportunities to inte4 grate the voluntary inspection protocol into the 

5 online permitting platform described in para6 graph (1) and the platforms of government 

7 software providers; and 

8 (5) take any other action to expedite, stand9 ardize, streamline, or improve the process for per10 mitting, inspecting, or interconnecting qualifying 

11 distributed energy systems. 

12 (d) SUPPORT SERVICES.—The Secretary shall— 

13 (1) support the provision of technical assistance 

14 to authorities having jurisdiction, any administrator 

15 of the online permitting platform described in sub16 section (c)(1), government software providers, and 

17 any other entity determined appropriate by the Sec18 retary in carrying out the activities described in sub19 section (c); and 

20 (2) provide such financial assistance as the Sec21 retary determines appropriate from any funds appro22 priated to carry out this section. 

23 (e) AUTHORITY HAVING JURISDICTION CERTIFI24 CATION PROGRAM.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may certify 

2 authorities having jurisdiction that implement the 

3 exemplary streamlined permitting process described 

4 in subsection (c)(1). 

5 (2) PROCESS.—The Secretary may confer a cer6 tification under paragraph (1) through existing pro7 grams within the Department of Energy. 

8 (3) PRIZES.—The Secretary may award prizes 

9 to authorities having jurisdiction, using funds appro10 priated to the Secretary to carry out this section, to 

11 encourage authorities having jurisdiction to adopt 

12 the exemplary streamlined permitting process or the 

13 voluntary inspection protocol established under para14 graphs (1) and (4) of subsection (c), respectively. 

15 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

16 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

17 out this section $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 

18 through 2027. 

Æ 


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