By Joe Bachman
Editor

STEVENS POINT — County Executive Chris Holman is urging county officials to become a close friend of solar energy in the coming future.

Holman announced his hopeful intent to become a “SolSmart” designated community. In working with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, (MREA) the county will seek to help improve solar market conditions. According to a letter written to SolSmart executives, this will make it “faster, easier, and more affordable for our residents and businesses to install solar energy systems.”

A 2015 Portage County energy report reflected the need to reduce energy consumption throughout the community. While nothing is official as of yet, Holman hopes that county officials will be on board soon and confirm such involvement with SolSmart in the very near future.

According to the letter written to SolSmart by Holman, future goals include the evaluation of solar energy-related economics on local government facilities, as well as moving forward with the support of a solar energy campaign in Portage County. In short, this is another step into putting more solar panels in Portage County.

“It seemed like a proactive thing to do in general…but looking towards the future and embracing the technology,” said Holman.

The program requires no budget contribution from the county, and has been used similarly by the city, and surrounding areas, such as Wisconsin Rapids. It will be placed before the county board for a final say in August.