South Bend Receives SolSmart Gold Designation
(photo courtesy of Downtown South Bend Inc.)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe city of South Bend is receiving major recognition from the national SolSmart program for making it easier for homes and businesses to go solar. The city was designated as a “solar-friendly, solar-ready” community by the program, earning the highest level Gold designation.
SolSmart is led by The Solar Foundation and the International City/County Management Association.
“I’m proud of our zoning and planning team for streamlining the deployment of solar energy in our city,” said Mayor James Mueller. “South Bend will continue to take steps to generate solar jobs locally and realize the opportunities within a growing clean energy economy.”
The city says it joins nearly 400 municipalities and counties across the country including six other cities and counties in the region: Elkhart, Marshall, and St. Joseph counties, and the cities of Goshen, Nappanee, and Plymouth.
The city says it reviewed internal processes, trained code enforcement officials and firefighters, installed solar on three city buildings, and provided education workshops to achieve the designation.
The city partnered with the Michiana Area Council of Governments on Solarize programs in 2017 and 2019, which educated hundreds of residents and facilitated a group-buy program. Solarize brought 19 new solar homes to the city and 115 to the region overall.