Gratiot County has entered a partnership with a federal government program to help it with developing solar energy installation.
The county board of commissioners unanimously approved during its meeting Tuesday in Ithaca an agreement with SolSmart, a program funded by U.S. Department of Energy grants that helps foster and develop solar markets and a letter of commitment to the program.
This comes after the commission discussed a proposed solar ordinance earlier this month that was sent back to the county planning commission for review, and work the county is doing to obtain and lease land for solar panel installation next to its landfill.
“(They) could do ordinance reviews,” said county administrator Tracey Cordes on Tuesday.
She elaborated on why the county could use the help from SolSmart, which would come free of charge to the county.
“Although this community has considerable experience with windmills, we could use technical assistance in solar energy development,” Cordes wrote in a memo Thursday to commissioners. “We want to build the safest and most productive projects for Gratiot County, but we also want to create processes in our permits department to effectively handle these sorts of projects (e.g. forms, work flow processes, training for inspectors).”
A consultation with SolSmart on the county’s needs has already occurred, but an application now needs to be completed, she said.
“This matters to some people. This matters to some prospective corporation,” Cordes said.
The program would help communities reach a certain designation of gold, silver or bronze based on the ease of the path to install solar projects.
“I think for someone doing solar projects, this is a fairly meaningful designation,” said District Four Commissioner Tim Lambrecht.
The next county board meeting is at 4:30 p.m. on May 29 in the commissioners’ room at the county courthouse at 214 E. Center Street in Ithaca.