Iowa City, IA

Iowa City, Iowa enacted a number of impactful measures to support solar within the community. That included supporting a community-wide group purchase program, supporting solar energy on affordable housing, and updating zoning, permitting, and inspection practices, among others.

• Developed a solar PV assessment that identifies community-wide feasibility for solar PV development within a jurisdiction (differentiate between large-scale, municipal, etc.).
• Provided clear guidance for the installation of solar PV in areas such as historic properties, flood zones or special overlay district.
• Codified in the zoning ordinance that accessory use rooftop solar PV is explicitly allowed by-right in all major zones.
• Installed solar PV on local government facilities and/or local government-controlled land.
• Directly install or provide technical or financial support for the installation of solar PV on affordable housing, multifamily housing, community-based organizations, and/or resilience hubs.
• Created a solar landing page on the city’s website.
• Demonstrated activity in state regulatory and/or legislative proceedings regarding solar PV.
• Provided local incentives or locally-enabled finance (e.g. a revolving loan fund) for solar PV and/or solar PV + technologies (e.g., battery storage and/or electric vehicle charging),
• Supported a community-wide group purchase program (e.g., Solarize).