Delaware has seen a significant growth in solar power installations and jobs in recent years.
In a meeting in front of Wilmington’s City Hall on September 3, 2015, city officials and speakers from the solar power industry discussed the many positives that solar has been providing Delaware.
William Rawheiser, president of Sun-in-One Inc, said “There have been thousands of jobs created in the state that would have been lost because of the lack of work.” Solar jobs started to grow when the recession started in 2008, helping to keep jobs in the state. All sorts of jobs have been created – sales, engineering and electrical to name a few.
Delaware is now ranked 11th in solar power per capita. This is certainly impressive considering many other states receive much more sunshine. Nearly 200 solar panel systems have been installed in Wilmington alone.
So what’s spurring this good solar growth in the state? It’s mainly due to state policy. Delaware adopted an aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standard which dictates that the state must generate at least 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2019.
The state’s Governor Jack Markell is also bullish on solar. He knows that solar can both create a “…strong economy and a healthy environment.” Government officials, industry leaders, and people everywhere are realizing that solar power is a win-win.
Undoubtedly another major part of this story has to deal with the cost of solar and the fact that homeowners everywhere are realizing the massive long term savings now available through solar power. The bottom line is that solar power makes financial sense at all scales – utility, commercial, and residential.
Delaware’s solar boom is not that exceptional. In fact, the solar power industry has been creating jobs all across the country. Solar has grown 10 percent faster than any other industry of recent years. This has resulted in about 175,000 jobs created in a fairly short amount of time.
Solar industry leaders know that this is just the beginning as much more work needs to be done. With their help, we can all look forward to a time in which we can breathe a little more easily and save money while doing it.
All with a little help from the sun.
