This fall, SolSmart announced that 22 communities across the U.S. achieved SolSmart status from the DOE’s SunShot Initiative. The program recognizes cities, towns, and counties for making it faster, easier, and cheaper to go solar; they accomplish this largely by reducing the non-material costs of going solar.
Fourteen communities achieved Gold status for taking significant steps to reduce costs of going solar; one achieved Silver status; and the remaining seven earned Bronze designation.
SolSmart was developed by The Solar Foundation and the International City/County Management Association (ICCMA) to help communities streamline processes like permitting, inspection, financing options, and approval for solar. A SolSmart designation signals that a community is “open for solar business,” helping to attract solar industry investment and generate economic development and local jobs. It is the latest in a series of programs, like the Solar Friendly Communities recognition program, aimed to help speed the deployment of local solar power.
“Local governments have a huge role to play in advancing solar energy development,” according to The Solar Foundation’s Philip Haddix and ICCMA’s Emily Sparks. “Solar soft costs can represent up to two-thirds of the total price of an installed residential system. By taking the initiative to cut red tape and streamline local processes, communities can reduce soft costs and make solar significantly more affordable for homes and businesses.”
The first Gold designees include:
Austin, Texas; Fremont, San Carlos, Santa Monica, and Santa Rosa, Calif.; Fort Collins and the City of Boulder, Colo.; Hartford, Conn.; Satellite Beach, Fla.; Minneapolis; Columbia, Gladstone, and Kansas City, Mo.; and Milwaukee, Wis.
Colorado’s Boulder County received a Silver designation, and Bronze recipients included Claremont and Redwood City, Calif.; Denver; St. Paul, Minn.; Somerville, Mass.; Philadelphia; and Burlington, Vt.
SolSmart aims to designate at least 300 communities over the course of the three-year program, providing no-cost technical assistance on the way to achieving that goal.
Visit gosparc.org to find out more about the SolSmart program and the benefits it can provide. Solar installations are complex and specific, and SolSmart can provide excellent resources such as sample code and policy language, statistics and data, expert advice by phone or email, and even on-site technical assistance.
