The California Legislature has passed AB 1738, a bill that would allow residents and contractors to request remote inspections for home energy systems including rooftop solar, home batteries, and heat pump installations.
Under current practice, contractors in California can wait up to six hours for inspections that take only 15 minutes to complete, adding between $600 and $1,000 in costs to a single solar, battery, or heat pump installation that are ultimately passed on to homeowners.
According to PV-Tech, AB 1738 aims to eliminate that inefficiency by expanding remote inspection access statewide, up from just 19 jurisdictions that currently offer the option. Los Angeles County, which already conducts 20-40% of its inspections remotely, has demonstrated the model’s viability at scale.
The bill applies to rooftop solar installations with a nameplate capacity of 15 kilowatts (kW) or less, along with other specified home energy systems. Some installations, including certain electrical service work related to heat pump systems, will still require in-person inspections under the legislation.
“Some of California’s most innovative local governments, from Placer County and the town of Paradise, to the City of Sacramento and Los Angeles County, already offer remote inspections for home solar and battery installations,” said Nick Josefowitz, CEO of Permit Power, an energy affordability non-profit advocacy organization and co-sponsor of the bill.
AB 1738 follows the Legislature’s recent passage of SB 868, the Plug and Play Solar Act, which would allow residents to install plug-in balcony solar panels without an interconnection agreement.
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