PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — To celebrate Solar Week, Philadelphia Energy Authority announced a milestone in its rooftop solar energy program.
Tabeen Hossain, the authority’s solar and residential programs manager, said Solarize Philly — which puts solar panels on rowhouses — has completed projects that are now generating 10 megawatts of energy, which is equivalent to about 60 football fields.
Shonique Banks, senior director of development and workforce initiatives at the authority, expressed how proud she is of the work they’ve accomplished so far in “providing accessible pathways to the solar industry and the broader clean energy economy for the people of this city.”
That includes not only the homeowners — 30% of whom are low and moderate-income — but hundreds of people, like Cleo Anukam, who have received training and jobs in the industry.
“These programs do work. I’m a testament — well, I try to be,” Anukam said. “I just want to be part of a bigger cause and this industry is definitely going to grow and as it does, I’m going to be part of it 100%.”
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City council and former Mayor Michael Nutter formed the authority in 2010 with a budget of $75,000 in city money. Executive Director Emily Schapira says the authority now has a $9 million budget, most of it from private investment.
“The whole model of the [Philadelphia] Energy Authority has been to really take a little bit of public investment and turn it into a lot of additional private investment and use all of it to do the kinds of things that benefit Philadelphians,” Schapira said.
The authority says they are working on a 70-megawatt solar farm in Adams County that will generate about a quarter of the energy needed to power the buildings that house city government.
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