Town of Mountain Village receives SolSmart Gold designation
The Town of Mountain Village is thrilled to announce it has received a Gold designation from the national SolSmart program for encouraging the growth of affordable solar energy options at the local level.
As a SolSmart Gold designee, the Town of Mountain Village has adopted nationally recognized best practices to advance solar market growth locally. Town staff worked with SolSmart’s no-cost technical assistance team to learn best practices for permitting solar energy and solar-plus-storage systems.
The Town’s Community Development Department (which encompasses planning and building) is now able to help make it faster, easier and more affordable for Mountain Village residents, businesses and nonprofit organizations to install solar.
“We are excited to achieve SolSmart Gold designation, recognizing our policies, practices and incentives to reduce barriers to solar energy in Mountain Village,” said the Mountain Village’s Sustainability & Grant Projects Manager Lauren Kirn. “We support the State of Colorado’s goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2040, and the associated benefits lower energy bills, increased energy resiliency and improved air quality.”
Over the past 12 years, the Town has installed solar arrays at three gondola stations, municipal water tanks, the maintenance shop and Village Court Apartments Phase IV buildings 15 and 16. The Town offers rebates for residents to install solar through its Solar Energy Incentive Program.
SolSmart is led by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and the International City/County Management Association and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. Over 500 cities, towns, counties and regional organizations have achieved SolSmart designation since the program launched in 2016.
Local governments achieve SolSmart designation by meeting established criteria that are based on national best practices for building solar-friendly communities. The SolSmart team of experts offers no-cost technical assistance and resources to help communities put these practices into action. Those that meet the criteria are designated SolSmart Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze.
Mountain Village first achieved SolSmart Bronze designation in 2024, and advanced to Gold designation the same year by achieving additional SolSmart criteria.
SolSmart designees are now in 44 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Any city, town, county and regional organization is eligible to join the program. To learn more about SolSmart, visit SolSmart.org.
To learn more about solar energy in Mountain Village, please visit townofmountainvillage.com/SolSmart.
