By Frank Mustac, Contributor
A green initiative to support the spread of solar energy throughout the Hopewell Valley was recently approved by the Pennington Borough Council, as officials voiced their intent to join in on the Hopewell Valley Solar Challenge.
Officials gave the green light to the challenge, which started in October through a partnership between the Hopewell Valley Green Team and Hopewell Township Environmental Commission, during their meeting on Monday.
The effort is part of a larger Sustainable Jersey Solar Challenge program to promote solar-energy adoption to residents and small-business owners.
According to its website, the program is an “eight-month community-led challenge (that) takes advantage of an online marketplace and a suite of social media marketing tools to spread the word about solar.”
Developed by Sustainable Energy, a nonprofit organization that seeks to “support communities as they pursue sustainability programs,” the challenge will ultimately give the top 10 towns in the program a $3,000 grant.
The municipality with the highest number of signed contracts for solar installations by the conclusion of the eight-month program will win a $10,000 award that can be used for an energy-related project in the community. The winner will be determined based on the proportionate number of households and businesses in each community.
The program was also developed with the support of the federal Department of Energy and in partnership with EnergySage.
“EnergySage was a startup created under the Department of Defense to come up with a virtual marketplace to enable people to…hookup with solar installers,” Rex Parker of the Hopewell Valley Green Team, speaking to the Hopewell Township Committee, said last summer. “(The company helps) go from an analysis of their residential or small-business sites to receiving bids on actual installation and purchase of all the photovoltaic hardware involved, all the way through to getting it installed.”
In the past, the program has been touted as a “non-invasive” way of introducing solar power to the community.
“It’s an opt-in thing,” Mr. Parker said earlier this year. “Nobody is being compelled to do anything here.”
For more about the Hopewell Valley Solar Challenge, visit solarhopewell.org.
