A solar tour will bring interactive educational exhibits to 50 cities in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Minnesota and Colorado beginning Friday, August 1. The tour will span 100 days and educate municipal leaders, community members, public schools, universities and utilities on how to make solar energy a meaningful power resource for their cities. The exhibits, powered by solar energy, will be transported by colorful biodiesel-fueled trucks.

With rising and volatile energy costs and increasing environmental concerns, community leaders, citizens and energy companies are searching for more information about solar and renewable energy. The City Tour for Solar will educate city leaders and managers on how to turn a public demand for renewable energy into reality with clean, predictably priced solar electrical power. The tour will include practical information on how to plan, implement and verify the value of municipal and utility solar programs.

“The reality is that solar is complex,” said Thomas Rainwater, CEO of SunEdison. “There are key concepts like ‘interconnection standards,’ ‘net-metering’ and others that national, state and local officials need to understand in order to make the right decisions about solar for their communities. We are simply bringing the knowledge to them as an industry, so cities can deploy cost-effective solar energy when and where it makes sense to them. We commend our industry partners Evergreen Solar, United Solar Ovonic, SMA America and Xantrex for making this city tour a reality.”

Solar energy provides new ‘green’ jobs, addressing climate change issues and ensuring a secure, local independent power supply. Seven jobs are created for every megawatt of solar energy installed.

Tour Schedule

The Solar City Tour will begin Friday, August 1, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., and will visit 50 cities in the Western United States. The tour will conclude on November 14, in Sacramento, Calif.