{"id":21131,"date":"2014-02-28T11:56:48","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T16:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=21131"},"modified":"2014-02-28T11:56:48","modified_gmt":"2014-02-28T16:56:48","slug":"council-committee-approves-scaled-down-solarize-raleigh-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2014\/02\/28\/council-committee-approves-scaled-down-solarize-raleigh-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Council Committee Approves Scaled-Down Solarize Raleigh Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Solarize Raleigh program has caused so much confusion and angst within the industry that City Councilors have asked that the program be revamped. <\/p>\n

The result is a Solarize Raleigh \u201clight\u201d option that would focus on outreach and vendor referrals \u2014 rather than the bulk purchasing and installing program originally envisioned. The new program, however, doesn\u2019t have funding. <\/p>\n

The change was approved by members of the Technology and Communications Committee Tuesday, but still requires full Council approval.

\"Solar<\/a>

Southern Energy Management<\/p>

Solar panels on a home's roof. <\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Originally, the program was referred to committee so members could determine how best to market the city-endorsed program to residents, but the scope of the conversation changed when members of the solar industry objected. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe big savings promised under the program are a lie,\u201d said Dan Lezama, owner of Sun Dollar Energy. He said customers need and want more education about solar energy. <\/p>\n

The North Carolina Solar Center received a $15,000 grant from the Department of Energy\u2019s SunShot initiative to run the program. Assistant City Manager Dan Howe said the city\u2019s only involvement is to act as a cheerleader for the program. <\/p>\n

The program lowers costs to homeowners by establishing a bulk purchasing program for photovoltaic panels. The program selects one contractor to do the installations \u2014 another facet to which small business owners objected. <\/p>\n

Steve Kalland, executive director of the NC Solar Center, suggested a scaled-down version of the program, but at this point it’s just a general concept. <\/p>\n

Kalland said the Solarize Raleigh Light program would focus on consumer education and outreach. The program would also recruit solar installers and companies who meet certain minimum standards. The program would refer customers to the installers on that list. <\/p>\n

The one caveat of this program, said Kalland, is that they would lose the $15,000 grant they received to run the original program. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t have a budget for this anymore,\u201d Kalland said. <\/p>\n

Kalland said the center has some funding from the state and could potentially partner with those in the industry who would want to take on some the costs. <\/p>\n

Members of the committee asked that the city\u2019s sustainability office continue to work with the Solar Center on the endeavor. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After outcry from the solar industry, a Council committee this week asked that the Solarize Raleigh program focus on consumer outreach, education and lead generation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24029,"featured_media":20962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[1540],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21131"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24029"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}