The tour will span 100 days and educate municipal leaders, community members, public schools, universities and utilities on how to make solar energy a meaningful power resource for their cities. The exhibits, powered by solar energy, will be transported by colorful biodiesel-fueled trucks.
SunEdison, North America's largest solar energy services provider, is the lead sponsor of the tour with four leading solar industry companies: Evergreen Solar, Inc., a manufacturer of solar power panels; United Solar Ovonic, LLC, a manufacturer of thin-film solar laminates; SMA America, Inc., a manufacturer of solar inverters; and Xantrex Technology, Inc., a manufacturer of advanced power electronic products, including solar inverters.
With rising and volatile energy costs and increasing environmental concerns, community leaders, citizens and energy companies are searching for more information about solar and renewable energy.
The City Tour for Solar will educate city leaders and managers on how to turn a public demand for renewable energy into reality with clean, predictably priced solar electrical power. The tour will include practical information on how to plan, implement and verify the value of municipal and utility solar programs.
"The reality is that solar is complex," said Thomas (Tom) Rainwater, CEO of SunEdison.
"There are key concepts like 'interconnection standards,' 'net-metering' and others that national, state and local officials need to understand in order to make the right decisions about solar for their communities. We are simply bringing the knowledge to them as an industry, so cities can deploy cost-effective solar energy when and where it makes sense to them. We commend our industry partners Evergreen Solar, United Solar Ovonic, SMA America and Xantrex for making this city tour a reality."
Solar energy provides new 'green' jobs, addressing climate change issues and ensuring a secure, local independent power supply. Seven jobs are created for every megawatt (MW) of solar energy installed.
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