Clouds Can’t Hold Back Portland’s Solar Expansion
Steph Stoppenhagen, the program manager for the solar map, said it will be modeled on the map that was created for San Francisco and will be available on June 9. The interactive map will provide residents with their estimated cost savings from installing solar using data that includes their roof size and annual projected sunlight.
Hannah Muller of the DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies program says the Solar America Cities program is a change in approach for her agency because it focuses on market transformation, not just research and development. As part of the award, city officials get access to DOE engineers to help troubleshoot on solar projects.
The grant programs, which must be matched by local government funds, are used to get universities, utilities and city planners involved in the expansion of solar. Muller says the success of the program has prompted other groups within DOE to ask for expansion of their programs to include market transformation.
Image Credit: Payton Chung via Flickr under Creative Commons License
“Portland will communicate to residents that despite the weather, installing solar is a viable option.”
With 222 cloudy days a year, solar power in Portland seems marginal at best, a joke at worst.
I guess Seattle would be even worse – this is just another fool politician chattering while pissing away public funds. I suppose he will get invited to all the green parties though.
Portland would be far better off to place the panels East of the Cascade mountains if nothing else.
I lived there for many years – forget seeing the sun from late December until June except on rare occasions. In about 63 there were 30 straight days of sunshine in April & May – everyone thought the world was coming to an end!