AMHERST — It takes a lot of planning to get a solar panel installed. Municipalities must find solar resources in their town, create GIS maps to identify optimal solar locations, assess options for solar infrastructure and conduct a financial assessment — all before a solar developer comes in.As small towns lacking skilled green energy employees struggle to perform these tasks, the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Clean Energy Extension has come up with a solution. The Clean Energy Extension has worked over the past several years to develop a toolkit that small, under-resourced municipalities can use to help develop solar energy. The extension partnered with Westhampton, Wendell and Blandford to create a pilot program and a roadmap of steps that towns across Massachusetts can take to develop a plan for adding solar power to their energy portfolios. Research fellow Zara…
Athol Daily News – Climate Change at Home: Towns making use of solar toolkit from UMass Clean Energy Extension
