Cedar Hill Designated “SolSmart Gold” for Advancing Solar Energy Growth

The City of Cedar Hill received a Gold designation from the national SolSmart program for making it faster, easier, and more affordable for homes and businesses to go solar. Cedar Hill joins Austin and El Paso as the third city in Texas to receive the Gold designation.

This designation recognizes Cedar Hill for taking bold steps to encourage solar energy growth and remove obstacles to solar development. For companies looking to expand, a SolSmart Gold designation is a signal that Cedar Hill is “open for solar business.”

“Stewardship and sustainability are community values in Cedar Hill”, said City Manager Greg Porter. “The SolSmart Gold designation is a recognition of our residents’ and business community’s continued environmental leadership.”

SolSmart is led by The Solar Foundation and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. More than 150 cities, counties, and small towns have achieved SolSmart designation since the program launched in 2016.

As a SolSmart designee, Cedar Hill is helping solar companies greatly reduce the cost of installations and pass those savings on to consumers. This allows even more local homes and businesses to obtain affordable, clean, and reliable electricity through solar. The actions Cedar Hill has taken will help encourage solar companies to do business in the area, driving economic development and creating local jobs.

To receive designation, cities and counties make changes to their local processes to reduce the time and money it takes to install a solar energy system. This includes evaluating local permitting processes, as well as planning and zoning procedures. SolSmart designees also develop innovations in areas such as market development and finance.

SolSmart uses objective criteria to award communities points based on the actions they take to reduce barriers to solar energy development. Communities that take sufficient action are designated either gold, silver, or bronze.

As part of the SolSmart program, a team of national experts provides no-cost technical assistance to help communities achieve designation. All cities and counties are eligible to join the SolSmart program and receive this technical assistance. Interested communities can learn more at SolSmart.org.