Suburban towns receive solar energy honors

Several suburban Chicago communities were honored this month for supporting the spread of solar energy from a nationwide designation program called SolSmart.

Ten municipalities were awarded either gold, silver or bronze designations for their efforts from Argonne National Laboratory.

Carol Stream and Mount Prospect received SolSmart gold honors, Bensenville and Broadview received a SolSmart silver designation, and bronze SolSmart recipients included Geneva, Gurnee, Hazel Crest, Northlake, Oak Forest and Westmont.

SolSmart is a national designation program led by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and the International City/County Management Association with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office.

SolSmart designations are awarded based upon several criteria for removing obstacles to solar energy development. These include objective point-based analysis of a town or county's solar issues tied to permitting, zoning, community engagement and marketing.

The Chicago-based Metropolitan Mayors Caucus also helped to recruit the towns to participate in training for the designation process. Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns is the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Environment Committee and Energy Subcommittee chairman, and he was quoted in a statement about his village's bronze SolSmart designation.

"The work that we did to earn SolSmart is the kind of practical climate action that municipal leaders can take to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help residents and businesses save money on energy costs," Burns said. "We hope our work inspires other communities to collaborate to achieve a better environment and a brighter future."

Kurtis Pozsgay, Bensenville's acting director of community and economic development, was the driving force behind the town's push for a SolSmart designation. He highlighted how the village recently created an online landing page with a permitting checklist to help streamline the process for businesses or residents interested in solar energy.

"The only thing we're missing for gold is the online permitting process requires a three-day permit turnaround," said Pozsgay, noting that Bensenville currently has a 10-day permitting process turnaround. "That's a tall order for a lot of communities."

A total of 59 Illinois communities have been designated SolSmart gold, silver or bronze - more than any other state. Since the program was launched in 2016, more than 400 cities, counties and small towns nationwide have achieved a SolSmart designation. More information on SolSmart can be found at solsmart.org.