Weigh in with your thoughts and perspectives on local solar. Cape Climate Coalition (CACC) and the MIT Renewables Clinic are co-hosting a public roundtable discussion at Gloucester City Hall on Monday, April 8 at 5:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend and discuss the potential for developing new solar energy projects in Gloucester. This is a time to raise questions and express your initial reasons for why and where you would support or oppose new projects.
An expansion of solar energy capacity on Cape Ann could reduce energy costs and carbon emissions and support a shift to “electrify everything”, as well as provide for economic development and local energy security.
Students, through interviews and two public meetings, the first of which is on April 8th, will assess with our help the relative potential of expanded solar capacity with rooftop solar on buildings, on municipal properties, with floating solar panels on reservoirs, in open spaces, over parking lots, in industrial parks, along roadways, and blended with public art. We would like to hear about where and on what basis you would support such projects.
MIT’s Renewable Energy Facility Siting Clinic trains MIT students who work alongside a professional mediator to help communities resolve local conflicts around the siting of renewable energy facilities. By providing a neutral independent forum, the Clinic brings together all relevant stakeholders involved in a siting dispute to identify key concerns and interests and support consensus building. MIT’s Clinic focuses on providing a formal stakeholder assessment, and facilitating a joint fact-finding and problem-solving process. The Clinic does not promote a specific siting outcome.