“Today, we’re proud to recognize our 2017 IREC 3iAward recipients – among the nation’s most extraordinary people, projects and programs making a sustainable energy future a reality,” said IREC Board Chair Larry Shirley.
“Their work is setting new standards – creating solutions to today’s complex renewable energy and energy efficiency challenges – changing communities and our national energy landscape in the process,” added Ken Jurman, IREC board member and chair of the 3iAwards Committee.
“As we honor their achievements, IREC celebrates its 35th year,” Shirley said. “We are more proud than ever of our own history, leading transformative policies and practices that allow millions more Americans to benefit from clean renewable energy.”
Award applications were accepted in four categories: Community/Shared Renewables, State & Local Government Initiatives, Regulatory Champion of the Year, and IREC Certified Clean Energy Trainer of the Year.
Also at the awards ceremony, three special IREC Energy Heroes were honored, “recognizing their remarkable and tireless commitment to the expansion of clean energy,” said Shirley.
State/Local Government Achievements of the Year
Sustainable CUNY on behalf of the NYC Solar Partnership
The New York City Solar Partnership helped lead to the quadrupling of the city’s solar capacity in just two years. Project review time was reduced from more than 24 days to less than 24 hours. As a result, Mayor De Blasio announced a new city solar target of 1,000 MW by 2030, and set NYC’s first energy storage deployment target of 100 MWh by 2020, to support resiliency during outages. The partnership worked with the City University of New York (CUNY) Smart DG Hub to develop and publish the NYC Resilient Solar Roadmap in late 2016. The NYC Solar Partnership, led and formed by Sustainable CUNY, includes the NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, the NYC Economic Development Corporation and CUNY.
Solar Energy International’s Solar Ready Colorado Career Expo and Envision360 Virtual Reality Initiative
Envision360 is a solar recruitment program technology tool that gives students a virtual experience of what it’s like to work in the solar industry, using Google Cardboard Viewers and virtual reality (VR) technologies. SEI’s program, Solar Ready Colorado: Solar Professionals Training and Outreach Program and Career Expo, was funded by SEI and a matching grant from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment under the WORK Act Grant.
Community/Shared Renewables Project of the Year
BARC Electric Cooperative Community Solar Project and
Solar Learning Center
BARC’s Community Solar Project & Solar Learning Center achieves two firsts for Virginia. The community solar project is the first and only community solar project in the commonwealth. The 550kW project was oversubscribed before it was operational – there’s a wait list for phase II. Also a first is a complementary solar classroom with interactive displays, multimedia, discussions and experiments for building solar toys. By combining multiple financing sources – Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs), federal and state grants – with a subscription-based approach, BARC affirms that community solar is feasible and achievable for any utility.
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