Albany is part of a handful of Bay Area cities that will work to attract solar energy systems by making it easier for companies to install them, according to information released this week by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Albany is part of a group called the East Bay Green Corridor, a regional partnership for green technology innovation and job training.
This week, the group announced a decision to work toward a uniform solar permitting process. Currently, different cities have their own processes, which can pose a challenge for contractors. Eventually, the Green Corridor hopes to develop regional goals about how much solar energy to bring in.
The group was founded in December 2007 by the mayors of Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and Emeryville, the UC Berkeley chancellor and then-Berkeley Lab Director Steve Chu.
It now includes the mayors of Albany, Alameda, San Leandro and El Cerrito, plus the Chancellors of Peralta Community College District and Contra Costa Community College District, and the president of California State University, East Bay.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, one of the founding members of the Green Corridor, will contribute to the Green Corridor Solar Initiative by providing technical and scientific assistance on photovoltaic technologies, said Lab Director Paul Alivisatos, who participated in a meeting of Green Corridor main members in Berkeley last Tuesday.
Separately, the group announced that it has attracted $6 million in funding from various federal, state and nonprofit sources. The California Energy Commission has awarded $3.5 million in grants for training in green buildings and transportation. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and Congresswoman Barbara Lee secured three federal earmark grants totaling $1.1 million for the cities of Berkeley, Emeryville and Oakland for training in energy efficiency and solar installation.
The group also announced it could soon be designated a state "iHub," or Innovation Hub. Green Corridor Director Carla Din announced that the Governor's Office of Economic Development informed her of the likely designation, and said a formal announcement is expected in the coming weeks.
The state designated six iHubs in March and plans to select another six in this round. The iHubs are designed to stimulate partnerships, economic development and job creation around research clusters.
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