When? No later than August 20, 2018.
What? There is an uncommon opportunity to be a part of shaping the solar energy future in Pennsylvania. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has consulted with over 500 stakeholders to create a draft plan titled “Finding Pennsylvania’s Solar Future”. It unveils 15 strategies to increase in-state solar power to 10 percent of electric generation by 2030. Your feedback is needed. See the Recommended Areas for Comment below for a quick background on the most important ideas.
Ready to impact Pennsylvania solar? Following usual protocol, the DEP offers a portal through which all public comments can be made online.
There are a few easy steps:
- Click on the DEP logo above.
- Look for the Document Title in the list “Pennsylvania’s Solar Future Plan”.
- On the right, select the “Submit comment” option and accept the terms to add your comments.
Note: We have created an example comment. Feel free to download it and copy ideas from the text to your comments. Exact Solar Example Feedback to DEP_July 2018
This could be a historic moment for renewable energy in general and solar energy in particular for Pennsylvania. We encourage everyone to take just a few minutes to let your voice be heard.
Want to know more before you comment? Read below.
Recommended Areas for Comment
Putting a solar energy system on a family’s rooftop is the quickest way to save the most money for decades to come. Here is our view of those strategies that would be most beneficial to helping more Pennsylvania families adopt solar and start their savings:
DEP strategy (1): “Increase access to capital by expanding availability of solar lending products to both residential and commercial projects to enable solar ownership.”
DEP strategy (2): “Provide loan guarantees to lower interest rates and provide an incentive to deploy solar generation.”
Exact Solar view: Solar energy system ownership has proven to be the best way for a household to save money from day one and to maximize the lifetime savings. Throughout the U.S. and across the globe, access to financing has made it possible for middle income and lower income homeowners to install solar energy on their homes. In some locations, the majority of active systems fall into this category. Making more lending options available and lower interest through guarantees will put Pennsylvania on par with most other states and open avenues for a great number of our neighbors.
DEP strategy (3): “Encourage municipalities to offer PACE programs.”
Exact Solar view: A Property Assessed Clean Energy program (PACE) is a simple way to consolidate your solar payments in with your property tax payments. The plan gives you the chance to extend the payback period, where in some cases the terms allow up to 20 years. Most importantly, PACE can cover all costs and by design simplify any future sale of the home as the solar energy system loan is affixed to the property in this way and not a separate legal contract.
To see comments already offered by other Pennsylvania residents, visit the official Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection eComment page.
If you are interested in more details about the DEP proposal, we have thoroughly reviewed it and offer our summary in A Rare Chance to Move Pennsylvania Forward so you don’t have to read the dozens of pages.
Why Your Comments Matter
As with any agency plans, the more completely the public view is understood, the better the plan will be from the start. And as rooftop solar grows, every existing and new system becomes more accepted and even more valuable. You can impact Pennsylvania solar.
REMINDER: Comments may be submitted through August 20, 2018,. So we encourage Pennsylvania residents to share their opinions quickly.