National Standard Set for Solar Permitting
Burnham Nationwide and Enliven Software have written the book on solar system permitting. Enliven and Burnham, partners in Simply Permits – an electronic municipal permitting system, were announced as the winners of the Solar Challenge at the SolarTech / CALSEIA Summit , April 21-22, 2010 in California.
SolarTech (www.solartech.org) convened an industry-wide competition to develop online permitting solutions that will reduce time and eliminate the redundant paperwork associated with the permitting of solar systems. The challenge was issued in response to the consortiums goal to reduce permitting cycle time by 50% by 2011. SolarTech issued a software interoperability standard at the Solar Power International Conference in 2009 for different programs to exchange data using the same protocols. The Permitting Challenge required software providers to formulate teams with cities, integrators and utilities to develop a pilot solution and an on-line process for solar permitting.
"The Solar Challenge was a unique opportunity for Enliven and Burnham to expand the usability of Simply Permits to solve a problem in the emerging solar energy market," said Bunmi Akinyemiju, CEO of Enliven Software. "It is an honor to compete in and win the challenge. Burnham is an excellent partner and their expertise in the permitting industry made this accomplishment possible."

