The City Council approved lower fees for commercial solar panel installations Tuesday after a study by the Sierra Club found Mountain View's fees to be among the highest in the Bay Area.

Fees for commercial solar panel installations were slashed to 25 percent of the current fees, which are calculated based on the value of the project. For example, the city was charging $2,200 in permit fees for the sort of 8-kilowatt system a small business would use, worth $74,000. Meanwhile, the average fee for such a system in the Bay Area was $680, according to the Sierra Club's study, released in May.

Though it is estimated that the city will lose just over $10,000 a year in revenue, city staffers said the lowered fees would still cover the costs for processing building and electrical permits and conducting field inspections. Because state and federal tax refunds for such systems have been cut, the city does not expect an increase in permit requests anytime soon.

Residential solar permit fees were cut to a flat fee of $152 several years ago.

— Daniel DeBolt

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