HERE COMES THE SUN !
Here Comes the Sun: a new era of solar energy is here By Janice Valverde 4/24/2015 Spring is here. Massachusetts' winter-without-mercy is history. As exciting as it is to see the buds popping and the birds nesting, there is another phenomenon so exciting that it marks not only a welcome new season, but a long-awaited new era. It's finally the age of solar power. There are so many reasons to say, “Here comes the sun!” Here are just a few recent developments in the solar power sector show that Eastern Massachusetts is clearly a leader in the United States' transition to this new era.
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President Obama announced April 3 that the Energy Department wants to train 75,000 people for the solar workforce by 2020, increasing a goal set in May 2014 by 25,000. Many of these workers may end up in Massachusetts, already second in the nation in solar industry employment, according to the Solar Foundation.
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IKEA's Stoughton store, 30 miles south of Boston, demonstrates the company's commitment to invest $1.8 billion in renewable energy. It announced April 16 that it has installed 1,248 atop the store. They will provide 318 kilowatts of electricity.
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About 35 miles north of Boston, Amesbury Mayor Ken Gray announced this month in his "state of the city" report that the town will host a solar farm on the site of a former landfill. "It will be a $10 million private investment, a 6 megawatt array, one of the largest in the Northeast United States," he said.
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Amesbury's neighbor, Salisbury, boasts "the largest Solar Park in New England." True North Energy built the park, which generates 5.7 megawatts of power, used by local municipalities and school districts.
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Next Step Living, a Boston company that brings energy efficiency and solar power to New England homeowners, is growing like crazy, hiring so many people this spring that it will have ten times as many staff as it started with in 2008. It held a "hiring event" April 15 at its HQs in the Innovation District in South Boston.