Our View: Locals Lead On Renewable Energy

Even though the Trump administration has, quite wrongly in our view, eliminated incentives and cancelled pre-existing permits for renewable energy projects, many states and local governments right here on Cape Cod have continued to pursue cost- and energy-saving projects, including promoting renewable energy. Towns have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs and reaped revenue from EV charging stations, putting the lie to the claim that renewable energy isn’t reliable, cost efficient, sustainable and good for the environment.

In Chatham alone, the four solar arrays on town buildings and three spread out on other town sites (like the landfill) generated nearly three million kilowatt hours of electricity in 2025, covering 82 percent of the town’s energy use and preventing hundreds of pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Although it’s been functional for less than a year, the town-owned electric vehicle charging stations at the Eldredge Garage have generated more than $16,000 in revenue. That figure will only increase with more time and as more people adopt EVs. The town has also added heat pumps and other energy saving devices in several town buildings and encouraged other efficiency improvements through various policies.

But don’t take our word for it. The town recently launched a page on its website that functions as something of a sustainable energy dashboard. It includes links to reports on past sustainable energy production as well as pages that show the amount of power being generated at five of the arrays in real time. 

The energy management webpage can be found at www.chatham-ma.gov/1104/Energy-Management.

Many other Cape towns have added solar arrays to municipal buildings and sites with much of the same benefits Chatham is experiencing. It behooves communities to explore more options to unshackle themselves, as much as possible, from the grid. This is good for the planet and for taxpayers who save on ever-escalating electricity costs the towns are paying to keep town government running. Eventually, the federal government will come around to these benefits and the current backward-looking policies will be reversed.