The City of Issaquah received
SolSmart Gold designation for making it faster, easier, and more affordable for homes and businesses to go solar. Jennifer Grove, Executive Director of Spark Northwest, presented the SolSmart Gold plaque to Mayor Fred Butler at the December 4
th City Council Meeting.
SolSmart is led by The Solar Foundation and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative. The SolSmart designation recognizes cities for taking bold steps to encourage solar energy growth and remove obstacles to solar development.
Issaquah has a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030 and each installation helps contribute to this goal. To receive designation, cities and counties make changes to their local processes to reduce the time and money it takes to install a solar energy system.
In fact, in Issaquah, for most standard residential systems, you do not need a building permit to install solar energy on your home. Please visit the City’s Solar Panel Permits webpage for more details.
About 100 households in Issaquah have solar panels installed, and our hope is that our SolSmart efforts will help to dramatically increase this number. In 2018, the City plans to support a group purchase program to further reduce the cost of purchasing and installing solar panels for Issaquah residents. Stay tuned to our Office of Sustainability for more information on the Solarize campaign in the coming year.