Thurston County receives SolSmart Silver recognition for encouraging growth of solar energy

Thurston County recently received a SolSmart Silver recognition for its continuous efforts in supporting and promoting the use of solar energy within the community.

Climate Mitigation Senior Program Manager Rebecca Harvey presented the award during the Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, September 26.

“Solar energy is an important strategy of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan to help reduce local greenhouse gas emissions while helping our residents and businesses save money on their utility bills,” said Harvey.

Harvey said the county has worked with the energy program’s no-cost technical assistance team and adopted nationally recognized best practices across the categories of Permitting, Inspection, Planning and Zoning government operations.

According to Harvey, the county makes it easier to go solar by not requiring a county permit for residential rooftop solar systems, pointing out that the county also offers long-term financing for solar energy and other green building improvements.

Harvey said it is only required to achieve a total of 100 points to get the Silver recognition and the county scored 190.

“There's just one more prerequisite we will need to achieve and hope to do so in the future to up our designation to gold,” said Harvey.

Currently, the county is working with the State Department of Commerce to assess its own facilities for future solar and battery storage systems.

According to its website, SolSmart is a national program that helps cities, towns, counties, and regional organizations “become solar energy leaders.”