San Leandro Designated “SolSmart Silver” for Advancing Solar Energy Growth

The City of San Leandro is receiving a Silver designation and a Special Recognition Award in the SolSmart Inspection category from the national SolSmart program for making it faster, easier, and more affordable for homes and businesses to go solar.

This designation recognizes San Leandro for taking bold steps to encourage solar energy growth and remove obstacles to solar development. For companies looking to expand, a SolSmart Silver designation is a signal that San Leandro is “open for solar business.”

SolSmart uses objective criteria to award communities points based on the actions they take to reduce barriers to solar energy development. Communities that take sufficient action are designated either gold, silver, or bronze.

Some of the specific actions that San Leandro has taken include:

• Providing streamlined solar permit applications
• Installing solar panels at the water pollution control plant
• Participating in East Bay Community Energy’s Renewable 100 rate option for residents and commercial businesses
• Providing solar landing pages with resources and active solar incentives for residents and businesses
• Providing an online system for scheduling solar inspections

As a SolSmart designee, San Leandro is helping solar companies greatly reduce the cost of installations and pass those savings on to consumers. This allows even more local homes and businesses to obtain affordable, clean, and reliable electricity through solar. The actions San Leandro has taken will help encourage solar companies to do business in the area, driving economic development and creating local jobs.

“We are pleased San Leandro’s efforts to support solar in the community have been recognized by the national SolSmart program.” says Mayor Cutter. “This goes a long way in advancing our climate goals and helping to continue building the solar program in San Leandro.”

SolSmart is led by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. More than 400 cities, counties, and small towns have achieved SolSmart designation since the program launched in 2016.