Deploying Renewables at the Local Level

Clean energy begins in the community. Communities across the country are embracing clean energy to meet wide-ranging needs, including resilience, energy affordability, and increased electricity demand. Local governments have a pivotalrole in bringing new solar, wind, and energy efficiency to their residents and businesses through permitting, inspection, zoning, and other policies. They are also critical in ensuring local projects align with community priorities.

IREC’s Local Initiatives Program equips local governments with the knowledge and resources to safely and efficiently deploy clean energy resources in alignment with community priorities. We help cities, counties, towns, and regional organizations use policy tools and resources to drive the growth of clean energy, address climate change, and create new jobs. We have helped hundreds of communities and regions—from rural to urban, underserved to affluent—improve local policies in ways that result in tangible clean energy market growth.

Renewable Energy Technical Assistance

IREC is proud to manage multiple technical assistance programs, offering critical know-how, vetted best practices, and expertise to help municipalities and other stakeholders deploy renewable energy and EV infrastructure safely, effectively, and efficiently. Our programs have helped hundreds of local governments lower costs and access the economic and grid resilience benefits of solar and wind energy, EVs, and other clean technologies. In many cases, this technical assistance comes free of charge to the recipient. Learn about our various technical assistance options today!

Sustainable Energy Action Committee

Led by IREC, the Sustainable Energy Action Committee (SEAC) provides a national forum for stakeholders to address code enforcement and permitting for solar installations and energy storage projects. This forum brings together local officials including building and fire departments, contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, testing labs, and other clean energy stakeholders.

Clear and comprehensive procedures on permitting, inspection, and related areas are essential to ensure the safety and quality of solar and solar-plus-storage systems. This collaborative project will help identify and solve problems and achieve public safety objectives. Like the Energy Ready programs, it will also help reduce the non-hardware “soft costs” of solar and energy storage.

IREC has led SEAC since the spring of 2020 under a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.