Green Energy Growing in Virginia - You Can Be Part of the Revolution

I was pleased to be able to participate on a panel at an Innovation Breakfast co-hosted by the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia regarding the future of green energy in the region and the Commonwealth.

While Virginia does have a way to go to catch up with our neighboring states of Maryland and North Carolina, we are poised to make great strides in the near future on utility scale renewable energy projects. That is wonderful news. In fact, by this time next year we should be able to say that Virginia has surpassed Maryland in the total amount of solar installed.

We do, however, have a long way to go before we can catch up with our neighbors with respect to solar that is installed on residences and business. As of last year there were 1,116 solar arrays in Northern Virginia. Given there are more than 500,000 building structures in the region we have a long way to go to make a dent.

With that said, I would like to remind our neighbors and business community that you can be part of the solar revolution through your participation in our most recent Solarize campaign that we are co-sponsoring with a number of local governments and the Piedmont Environmental Council. Prices for residential solar are at an all time low despite the tariffs placed on foreign made panels by the President. And, the Federal Investment Tax Credit still remains at 30% - a very good deal.

Our Spring campaign this year ends on May 31. It is free to sign up and to get an estimate from a qualified, local-solar contractor.