“Pennsylvania’s Solar Future” Plan
As the source of nearly 33 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Pennsylvania, electricity generation is a key area for renewable energy innovations to reduce these pollutants and the challenges they create for public health and our environment.
Solar energy is growing in Pennsylvania, as it is across the United States. However, while the number of states that get at least 5 percent or even 10 percent of electricity from solar continues to climb, solar energy provides less than 1 percent of Pennsylvania’s electricity. Significant potential remains for solar energy development to transform our electricity generation sector.
What are the best ways for Pennsylvania to realize this potential? The Department of Environmental Protection Energy Programs Office assembled a statewide partnership of experts who’ve collaborated for more than a year to identify 15 strategies, including grid-scale solar and smaller, distributed systems (such as rooftop installations), that can achieve a 10 percent increase in solar-powered electricity. They’ve also detailed the associated benefits and required investments, to create a set of strategy recommendations ready for implementation.
For Pennsylvania to achieve leadership in renewable energy generation from solar, we’ll require more intensive leadership, investment, and recognition of the long-range economic and environmental benefits.
If you’d like to see a viable future of cleaner energy in Pennsylvania, I invite you to read the plan materials below. Further, I encourage you to consider how this valuable work might inform your energy decisions.
Secretary Patrick McDonnell