A workshop that was held at the Marshall County Building Tuesday evening was well attended by individuals interested in learning more about solar energy.
The workshop was led by Environmental Planner Leah Thill who works with the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG). She told the audience that her job entails working on various sustainability projects.
She explained, “One part of that is working on solar education and so I’m a part of the volunteer team with Solarize Northern Indiana.”
Thill handed things over to Mayor Mark Senter who touched on the City of Plymouth’s stance in regards to solar energy.
Mayor Senter stated, “We’re happy to partner with MACOG and the solar energy volunteers to facilitate people, homeowners and businesses going solar to become more energy independent and to support local clean energy jobs.”
Senter noted that officials are currently reviewing the existing permitting and zoning codes related to solar energy systems to make improvements and simplify the process.
Marshall County Plan Director Ty Adley elaborated on the matter.
He noted, “Both Plymouth and the County, as well as many of our additional municipalities, are looking at reducing the restrictions in solar or kind of trying to fine-tune them to make it easier for you to kind of go through that process.
After giving the local officials a chance to talk, Thill went on to briefly cover that, in addition to providing communities with valuable research and data that can save them time, one of the main goals of the organization she volunteers for is to help individuals save money as well.
Thill explained, “There are initiatives that have gone under the name ‘solarize’ that generally describe a model where people join together to in order to make it more affordable to go solar by harnessing their buying power.”
She continued, “I think of it like Costco or Groupon for solar, by getting everyone together it’s cheaper for everyone.”
Thill mentioned that Tuesday’s workshop in Plymouth was the last one of that Solarize has scheduled in Marshall County.
However, she noted that individuals are welcome to request one for their own community if they’re interested in learning more about how to get started with the solar energy process. She said they will begin scheduling those later this summer and in early fall, as they’re able to accommodate the requests that come in.
Click the following link to complete the necessary form to request a Solarize workshop.
