7-6-12: A Community Based Solar System

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CommunitySolar-0706.mp3

The town of University Park, Maryland, is a small, tree-lined community located close to its more well-known neighbor, College Park. Residents of the town wanted to invest in solar energy – but the amount of shade in the town made that problematic. So, a group of people decided to pool their money and install panels on top of a local church. On July 14th, the group is holding a celebration honoring the fact that the panels met all of the church’s energy needs for the past 18 months. Maryland Morning producer Stephanie Hughes visited the church last fall.

On Saturday, July 14th, the University Park Community Solar LLC is holding a celebration of their panels meeting all of the church’s energy needs. It’s open to the public. The group also has plans to create other community solar arrays in both Baltimore and Washington, DC. The town of University Park also received a grant to place a solar array on another public facility. They’re in talks to place it on University Park Elementary School.