Waterbury Record — LEAPing to the top: Towns recognized for doubling solar capacity
Rev. Peter Plagge and Erin Mooney opened up their Winooski Street home for a sort of party Monday morning. Gov. Peter Shumlin, several state representatives and a scrum of local and state media all attended, as did the figurative guests of honor: more than 100 photographs of solar panel arrays on or beside homes and businesses in Waterbury and Duxbury, many installed over the last 11 months.
The event celebrated the doubling of residential solar capacity in both towns over the past year, a goal set by Waterbury LEAP (Local Energy Action Partnership) last April. There are now 103 solar installations between the two towns, 34 in Duxbury and 69 in Waterbury. The success has been largely a result of making solar more affordable for families such as Plagge’s and Mooney’s, said Jamie Ervin, a Waterbury LEAP board member. Duxbury, for example, is 89th in the state in per capita income, but second in the state now in terms of watts per capita of solar capacity.
“It shows solar is for everyone, regardless of income,” Ervin said. Read the entire article.
