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HAUPPAUGE, NY – Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine today announced ‘Solar-Up Suffolk,’ a new multi-pronged program to encourage solar power use by Suffolk residents and businesses. The announcement was made ahead of International Solar Appreciation Day, which is on March 11.

These programs will take place during April, designated as Earth Month, with a focus on education and information exchange on how to go solar and continue its use throughout the year.

“The threat of climate change is not in the future. We are experiencing it right now with more intense storms, worse and worse flooding events, and extreme heat in the summer,” said Romaine. “There is no silver bullet, but I believe that solar energy is one key piece of the puzzle. ‘Solar-Up Suffolk’ is a way for the County to encourage more residents and businesses to explore the benefits of solar power.”

The first program will be a Lunch and Learn “Solar 101” offered to Suffolk County employees. This program is structured similar to additional educational programs offered by the County’s Human Resources department and will include solar experts from the industry as well as a Suffolk County employee who has already installed solar on their home.

The second program is a Suffolk County Solar Fair which will take place on April 22 (Earth Day) which will feature numerous solar vendors, local research institutions like the Advanced Energy Center at Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory, environmental groups, and County departments. This event will take place in the H. Lee Dennison Building and will be open to the public.

The Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) is also expected to adopt a policy at its April 25 meeting that strongly encourages any business seeking IDA benefits to evaluate their building for the use of solar power. Many companies come to the IDA when they are building new or expanding existing facilities. This new policy will offer a timely opportunity for those companies to learn about how solar can offer long-term savings on their energy bills that will help their bottom line.

“Long Islanders were so good at adopting solar that we exhausted the New York State solar incentives years ago. With changing economic conditions, it is critical that the state find ways to support the adoption of solar to meet the aggressive climate goals that have been set,” Romaine said.