EWING, NJ — Sustainable Jersey announced on Sept. 22 that seven municipalities were selected for the Sustainable Jersey Solar Challenge program; they are Galloway, Highland Park, Hoboken, Hopewell, Maplewood, Verona and Woodbridge. Woodbridge and Highland Park also served as early pilots to fine-tune the program. These municipalities will promote the adoption of solar energy at the community-level and track their impact on the number of new local solar installations.
“Finding a contractor to install a still evolving solar technology, with a confusing array of incentives and financing options, has emerged as a significant barrier to the growth of solar energy,” Randall Solomon, co-director of Sustainable Jersey, said in a press release. “Sustainable Jersey launched this program to overcome obstacles and provide a simple, cost-effective way for municipalities to engage homeowners and small businesses in adopting solar.”
The eight-month community-led program leverages an online solar marketplace and a suite of locally-branded social media marketing tools to help spread the word in the community about solar energy and the program. The Sustainable Jersey Solar Challenge takes advantage of a new online solar marketplace developed by the firm EnergySage with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy. The EnergySage Web-based interface offers consumers online comparison-shopping, providing an experience similar to buying an auto online. Because the online solar marketplace is open to all solar vendors who meet the EnergySage vetting criteria, consumers have access to multiple high quality contractors.
“This is an exciting program and one that we’re thrilled to support,” Vikram Aggarwal, founder and CEO of EnergySage, said in the release. “The Sustainable Jersey Solar Challenge will provide communities throughout New Jersey with the right tools and resources needed to efficiently explore their solar energy options. Municipality programs like this make the process of adopting solar as transparent, easy and affordable for their residents as possible.”
The communities selected for the Sustainable Jersey Solar Challenge will receive support from Sustainable Jersey and EnergySage in developing and promoting the outreach campaign and will be featured on the Sustainable Jersey Solar Challenge website, which will track the progress of each community in achieving signed contracts for solar installation by local homeowners and businesses. The participating municipalities will compete for the title of Solar Challenge Champion and a range of awards up to $10,000. The program will run from October 2016 through May 2017.
Maplewood, Verona selected to compete in Sustainable Jersey Solar Challenge added by Editor on
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