Solar Powering Your Community: Building Local Solar Markets
Beaverton, Oregon and Gainesville, FL
Population 89,803 and Population 124,354

Time: Friday April 20 - 9:00-10:15am

This session will highlight actions local governments can take related to going solar. Most communities in the US have significant solar potential. As a result, solar energy offers communities a clean, reliable, and renewable alternative to fossil fuels. Solar energy – particularly solar PV – can have a number of benefits for communities, helping to create jobs, stimulate investment in the local economy, promote energy independence, and address air and water quality concerns. Local governments are well positioned to address many of the barriers to solar energy adoption, including permitting processes, financing challenges, and a lack of awareness about solar technologies among local stakeholders.

Local governments across the county have implemented innovative programs that address some of these key barriers to going solar. These programs have helped pave the way for increased adoption of solar, led to the creation of local solar jobs, and had other related benefits. Communities discussed in this session will include Gainesville, Florida and Beaverton, Oregon. In Gainesville, the city and Gainesville Regional Utilities partnered to create a Feed-In Tariff for which both residential and commercial customers are eligible. Through this policy, which has had a minimal impact on rate payers, the city has seen a more than ten-fold increase in solar installations in just over two years. In Beaverton, Oregon, the city has partnered with Energy Trust of Oregon and Solar Oregon to help residents take advantage of 2011 state and federal tax credits and incentives and go solar. The city and its partners provide free educational workshops and solar site assessments for residents. To date, over 500 residents have signed up for the Solar Beaverton program.

The workshop has the following objectives:
• Learn what steps a community can take to go solar
• Find out where to go for more information on a range of topics, including technologies, installation, and financing
• Highlight effective partnerships that facilitate solar at the community level