The Energy Commission released a report in December 2000 titled Distributed Generation: CEQA Review and Permit Streamlining, (Publication #700-00-019, PDF file). This report describes the permitting processes conducted by city and county governments and air districts for small-scale electric generating facilities. California has already instituted a number of guidelines and programs to streamline the permitting process in order to encourage distributed generation. For example, the State Permit Streamlining Act imposes the following time limits, once a permit application is accepted as complete:

• One year for Environmental Impact Reports
• Six months for Negative Declarations of Mitigated Negative Declarations

Developers of distributed generation facilities may apply for all required permits at the same time, but the sequence of permit application usually follows this order:

1. Air permits
2. Land-use approvals, such as conditional use permits
3. Building permits
4. Interconnection (refer to the Interconnection section for more details)

California Environmental Protection Agency - Permit Assistance Centers

Due to budget cuts, the Permit Assistance Centers offices were closed. For permit/license information, you may access the On-Line to Desktops (CalGOLD) which provides automated permit assistance services via the Internet at www.calgold.ca.gov.