SolarAPP+™ Privacy Policy

Effective November 12, 2024

This Privacy Policy explains how the SolarApp Foundation (“The Foundation”, “we”, or “us”) collects, uses, and shares information about you when you use the permitting review tool available on the gosolarapp.org webpage (“Web Tool”) which is provided by The Foundation as Management and Operating Contractor of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (“NREL”) under Prime Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308 for the United States Department of Energy (“DOE”), or when you otherwise interact with us or receive a communication from us about the Web Tool.

If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use the Web Tool. By using the Web Tool, you consent to the privacy practices described in this Privacy Policy. By providing any information discussed herein, you are representing and warranting to The Foundation that you are authorized to disclose such information for the purposes set forth in this Privacy Policy.

This Web Tool is intended for use by 1) authorities having jurisdiction (“AHJs”) which are authorized permitting agencies, and 2) applicants (“Applicants”) for permits. Unless otherwise indicated, this Privacy Policy shall apply to both AHJs and Applicants. By submitting any information to The Foundation via or in association with this Web Tool, you are representing and warranting to The Foundation that you have the authority to disclose that information.

Unless otherwise stated herein, and/or unless you choose to provide such information to us, we collect no personal information about you or other information from you when you visit or use this Web Tool. Furthermore, unless otherwise stated herein, we will not sell or otherwise share any personal information about you, or other information received from you with any third parties.

Types of Information Collected and How It is Handled

  1. We collect and store certain information automatically. This information includes:

    The Internet Protocol (IP) address of the domain from which you access the internet (i.e. 123.456.789.012) whether yours individually or provided as a proxy by your Internet Service Provider (ISP); the date and time you access the Web Tool; the pages you peruse (recorded by the text and graphics files that compose that page) and, the internet address of the Web Tool from which you linked directly to our Web Tool.

    We may use the summary statistics to help us make this Web Tool more useful to visitors, such as assessing what information is of most and least interest to visitors, and for other purposes such as determining the Web Tool’s technical design specifications and identifying system performance or problem areas. This information is shared with the support staff of this Web Tool and is used only as a source of anonymous statistical information.

  2. To create an account, you must provide your first and last name, a username and password for your account, your email address, the business license number(s) for your organization, and the name and business address of your organization.

    We use this information to maintain the security of the Web Tool, to ensure you are authorized to access and use restricted portions of this Web Tool, and to manage your account and our relationship with you. We also provide some or all of this information to third parties with legitimate business interests, including to the governmental jurisdiction in which you apply, via this Web Tool, for a permit to construct, install, and/or operate a residential solar panel system (a “PV Permit”)). The governmental jurisdiction may or may not make this information available to the public to comply with its open records policies. By providing your email address, you are consenting to receive updates about SolarAPP+™ via email. You may opt out (i.e., unsubscribe) from these emails at anytime by contacting support@gosolarapp.org

  3. To apply for a PV Permit using the Web Tool, you must provide information about the project for which you are applying, including an address at which the project will take place, a jurisdiction in which the project exists, and technical specifications regarding the project (e.g., generation capacity, structural details, components or systems included, etc.).

    We provide this information to the relevant governmental jurisdiction to assist in their determination of whether or not to issue the requested PV Permit. We also provide some or all of this information to other third parties with legitimate business interests. The governmental jurisdiction, the U.S. Government, and/or the DOE may or may not make this information available to the public to comply with open records laws and/or policies.

  4. You may choose to provide us with other information, such as in an e-mail message containing your ideas, suggestions, comments, or questions (“Feedback”).

    We may use your Feedback to improve, revise, or update the Web Tool, or to respond to your request. There are times when your message is forwarded, as e-mail, to other The Foundation employees who may be better able to help you or who are responsible for maintaining the Web Tool.

    Any Feedback about this Web Tool that you provide to The Foundation is entirely voluntary, and by providing Feedback you are agreeing that The Foundation may use such Feedback without restriction and without compensation or obligation to you. To the extent any license would be required to utilize or implement your Feedback, you automatically grant The Foundation, when submitting such Feedback, a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable, and sublicensable license under any rights necessary for such use or implementation.

  5. We use Microsoft Clarity to analyze how visitors interact with our website through session replays and heatmaps. This helps us improve performance, detect issues, and enhance the user experience. The data collected may include user behavior metrics, interactions, and browsing patterns using first- and third-party cookies. For further details on Microsoft’s data practices, visit their Privacy Statement

Situations When Disclosure of Data May Occur

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, we reserve the right to disclose your information that we believe, in good faith, is appropriate or necessary to (i) take precautions against liability, (ii) protect ourselves and others from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses or activity, (iii) investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations, (iv) protect the security or integrity of the Web Tool and any facilities or equipment used to make the Web Tool available, (v) protect our property or other legal rights (including, but not limited to, enforcement of our agreements), or the rights, property, or safety of others, (vi) comply with the audit, inspection, and copying requirements of our Prime Contract with the United States Government, or (vii) to comply with relevant open records laws.

We also may disclose your information as may be described in a notice to you at the time the information is collected, or in any other manner to which you consent. We will attempt to inform you of how we are going to use your information. We will achieve this through this Privacy Policy and by informing you how your information is used each time we collect it.

Changing Data Provided

You may, of course, decline to share certain information with us, in which case we may not be able to provide all features and functionality of the Web Tool to you. You may update, correct, or delete your account at any time. If you wish to access or amend any other information we hold about you, or request that we delete any information about you that we have obtained through the Web Tool, you may submit your request by contacting us at privacy@gosolarapp.org. Requests are subject to verification of identity. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

Timeline of Storing of Data

We will attempt to keep your data for no longer than necessary. The length of time we retain it will depend on any legal obligations we have (such as governmental reporting purposes), the nature of any contracts we have in place with you, the existence of your consent and/or our legitimate business interests.

Privacy Policy Subject to Change

The Foundation may make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make changes, we will post the amended Privacy Policy to this Web Tool and update the Effective Date above. By continuing to access or use the Web Tool on or after the Effective Date of the revised Privacy Policy, you agree to be bound by the revised Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the revised Privacy Policy, you must stop accessing and using the Web Tool before the changes become effective. You are responsible for checking the Privacy Policy for changes and your continued use of the Web Tool constitutes acceptance of updated Privacy Policy.

General

Capitalized terms used but not defined in this Privacy Policy have the meanings given to them in the Terms of Use.