Doylestown Borough has been accepted as a SolSmart Silver Community. SolSmart is a national designation program recognizing communities that have taken key steps to address local barriers to solar energy and foster the growth of mature local solar markets. The program is funded by a grant through the U.S. Department of Energy and is used to provide technical assistance to communities to help streamline the process for property owners to convert to solar PV systems. We now have access to their technical assistance and training programs, which also includes training opportunities for the Fire Department.
Communities are accepted into the program, evaluated based on existing ordinances and policies, and are usually required to make adjustments to earn official designation. Doylestown was accepted into the program as a candidate for Bronze designation. Our Green Points program and the solar provisions in our ordinances qualified us for Silver with just a few minor tweaks to our website and some technical training.
We're currently the only community in PA with a Silver designation, Philadelphia being the one designee with a higher rating. Haddonfield, NJ was also awarded Silver and is the only other town in the Delaware Valley region to achieve a designation higher than Bronze.
A map of designees can be found here: https://www.solsmart.org/our-communities/designee-map/