Sep 14 2010
Department of Environmental Protection of Pennsylvania has plans to organize tours to solar facilities that are situated in Northeast Pennsylvania. John Hanger, Secretary of Department of Environmental Protection, said that the tours were mainly arranged to showcase the solar industry in Pennsylvania. He added that that the country is experiencing benefits due to the increased growth of solar energy installations during the last one and half years.
The solar installations while generating sustainable green energy, creates more profitable venues for the manufacturers and installers of the services. He further said that the benefits can be felt with the increased growth.
According to Hanger, Crayola, Payne Printery and Pocono International Raceway have acceded to the request of the department to offer tour facilities to the solar installations for the general public. The tour cum demo is expected to provide details on how clean solar energy can save money for the business and how the solar energy installations have made Pennsylvania a leading renewable clean energy development state in the USA. He elaborated that the solar industry grew in the state due to the rigid standards set in the state six years back. He added that other states in the USA have set higher standards for solar usage and wanted Pennsylvania to revise its standards to accelerate the solar installation rate. He concluded that a failure to introduce such legislation will make the state to loose its job opportunities to other states that provide increased incentives for accelerated growth of the solar industry.
The current Pennsylvania Portfolio Standards Act that was enacted during 2004 made it mandatory to use one half of one percent of the electric power utilized within the state by solar production by the year 2021. The law made the state to lead the other states with solar installations with a production of 39 MW solar power that is sufficient to power 5,900 average homes in the state. The state is planning to install an additional 130 MW in phases.