Northern Virginia Regional Commission, VA

The Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) has long been a leader in solar energy, becoming the 250th SolSmart designee in 2019. Since then, NVRC has continued to conduct outreach, increase access to solar information, provide trainings for area governments, and other critical efforts to remove barriers to solar energy, increase knowledge, and lower costs. In 2025, NVRC became the first regional organization in the U.S., and the first local government in the Southeast, to earn SolSmart Platinum designation, a major recognition of their leadership and powerful work.

• Posted online resources about solar installers and/or solar quote platforms for solar PV.
• Established partnerships with local community-based organizations within your region on strategies for solar PV deployment and/or planned programs or initiatives.
• Posted online resources about residential and commercial solar PV financing options and incentives including an inventory of local incentives or locally-enabled finance (e.g., a revolving loan fund) for solar PV provided by member communities.
• Posted an online summary of state policies related to a property owner’s solar access and solar rights, including links to state-level policy.
• Posted online resources about consumer protection and solar PV.
• Discussed solar PV goals and/or strategies for increasing solar PV development within an appropriate committee, commission, taskforce, and/or working group. (e.g., solar is a recurring agenda item during monthly sustainability commission meetings).
• Supported a solar informational session and/or solar tour explaining solar PV opportunities and policies.
• Demonstrated regional organization support for local solar strategies through speeches, press releases, opinion articles, etc.
• Posted an online solar map for the region.
• Supported a community-wide group purchase program (e.g., Solarize).
• Discussed regional goals for solar PV, net metering, community solar, and/or interconnection processes with the local utility(ies) and explore areas for future collaboration.
• Shared solar PV progress towards achieving targets or metrics on the solar landing page.
• Collaborated with local inspection departments to develop a solar PV inspection checklist for the region and post on the solar landing page developed as part of PR-2.
• Included specific solar PV goals, metrics, and strategies in the most current version of relevant regional plans (e.g., energy plan, comprehensive plan).
• Reviewed existing regional planning documents and identify new opportunities (not already included) to integrate solar PV and solar PV integrated with other technologies such as battery storage, or electric vehicle charging into planning goals.
• Posted a solar landing page on the regional organization’s website with information that may include the region’s solar goals, educational materials and tools that promote solar, and resources for solar development.
• Developed and/or publicized a model permitting and inspection process that can be refined and adopted by member communities.
• Developed and/or publicized a model solar zoning ordinance template that can be refined and adopted by member communities.
• Engaged with regional organization members who are eligible for SolSmart designation and get them to submit a Solar Statement.
• Collected and post member government energy targets for solar PV (e.g., # of installations, MW capacity, kWhs generated cand/or procured) and progress against stated targets.
• Hosted regional training on best practices for inspecting solar PV and/or solar and storage systems.
• Hosted regional training on best practices for permitting solar PV and/or solar and storage systems.
• Hosted regional training for planning and zoning staff from communities and counties in the region on best practices in planning and zoning for solar PV.