Cities across the nation can use this roadmap to make their own clean energy plans. 

Salt Lake City, UT [September, 2020] – Making our cities more sustainable just became easier, as a team of three Utah cities and the nonprofit Utah Clean Energy have developed a roadmap that other cities can tailor and implement to achieve greater levels of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and electrified transportation. 

The roadmap provides strategies for local governments to maximize the benefits of clean and distributed energy resources—such as rooftop solar, energy storage, highly efficient and electrified buildings, and electric vehicles—over the next 10 years. It demonstrates that Utah communities can benefit from the growth of both utility-scale renewable resources, like solar and wind farms, and distributed energy resources.  Download a copy of the Roadmap here.

Combined, these resources will help local governments meet their clean energy goals while also delivering local economic and health benefits, improved resilience, and lower energy bills.

The team was one of nine teams selected to join the first round of the Solar Energy Innovation Network. The Network is led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and supports teams across the United States that are researching solutions to real-world challenges associated with solar energy adoption.

“The roadmap this team has developed is an excellent example of what we designed the Solar Energy Innovation Network to accomplish,” said Eric Lockhart, who leads the Solar Energy Innovation Network at NREL. “By bringing together governments, a utility, and a nonprofit, the team was able to create a roadmap that addresses the priorities and concerns of all these stakeholders. This will make their approach relevant and impactful for many other communities—and their diverse stakeholders—as they consider emerging energy options.” 

Utah Clean Energy led the team in partnership with the Salt Lake City, Park City, Moab local governments and the electric utility serving their communities, Rocky Mountain Power. The cities worked with NREL to understand and define the technical potential of solar energy and other distributed energy resources in their communities.  

Before the launch of the Solar Energy Innovation Network, the three Utah cities had set a goal to reach 100% net renewable electricity community-wide by 2030. Participation in the Solar Energy Innovation Network allowed these cities to begin evaluating the potential of distributed energy resources as a complement to utility-scale solar to meet their renewable energy targets and address other sustainability goals. 

“Saying we want to power our communities with clean energy is one thing. Achieving it is something else altogether,” said Luke Cartin, Environmental Sustainability Manager for Park City Municipal.  “This roadmap is essential to help Park City and other Utah cities achieve our ambitious goals, and I hope this tool is used by many more communities around the country in their path toward sustainability.”

The Solar Energy Innovation Network is a collaborative research effort led by NREL with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. NREL pursues fundamental research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies to transform the way we use energy. 

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