City of Davis To Receive Award For Advancing Solar Energy Growth

The following is courtesy of the City of Davis

DAVIS, CA -- SolSmart, a program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative, has recognized Davis with a Gold Award. Davis will be identified as a national leader in advancing solar energy at the American Planners Association annual conference taking place in New York City May 6-9, 2017.

As a SolSmart Gold designee, Davis is receiving national recognition for adopting programs and practices that make it faster, easier, and cheaper to go solar. A SolSmart designation is a signal that the community is “open for solar business,” helping to attract solar industry investment and generate economic development and local jobs.

“Nearly 3,000 total homes in our community now have rooftop solar, making Davis one of the highest per-capita solar production communities in the nation.” stated Robb Davis, City of Davis Mayor.

Davis continued, “In order to sever our reliance on greenhouse gas producing fossil fuels, we need to build a deeper relationship with the sun. In 2010, we set a goal to produce 5% of the peak electricity used in Davis (2.6 megawatts) from local renewable energy sources by 2015. We exceeded that goal by approximately 10 times; in just the five year period between 2010 to 2015, over 2,000 solar PV systems that generate 29.6 megawatts (Mw) were installed.”

New ‘Double Up on Solar’ goals established by Davis City Council last year are to double the number of single family household roof top systems to approximately 4,500 and double the total residential power production capacity by installing an additional 21 Mw by the end of 2020. As a community, we reached our annual goal of 500 solar system permits in 2016 and hope to reach another 550 in 2017.

Chris Granger, Executive Director of Cool Davis said, “We are excited and proud that our City earned the SolSmart Gold award. Cool Davis has been working with the City of Davis and the community on reducing our carbon footprint since 2010. Efforts are paying off, especially now. Local solar entrepreneurs and energy experts have dedicated time and expertise to our Double Up on Solar campaign. Davis businesses and residents have really stepped up! Hopefully this award can generate even more community excitement about rooftop solar energy.”

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