{"id":6786,"date":"2019-05-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gridalt.wpenginepowered.com\/the-current\/grid-news-april\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T16:58:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T20:58:00","slug":"grid-news-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/the-current\/grid-news-april\/","title":{"rendered":"GRID Mid-Atlantic In the News for April!"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the beginning of April, GRID Alternatives Mid-Atlantic resolved to make the next 30 days an Earth month — a bigger, fuller, more impactful celebration than just the singular Earth Day on April 22.<\/p>\n

It turned out to be a huge month for our office, which enjoyed some massive events and some some serious attention from the press.<\/p>\n

\n

April got out to a great start. Our own Chris Sewell, the financing and operations director of GRID Mid-Atlantic, wrote an impassioned op-ed for the Capital Gazette in Annapolis<\/a> on April 6 in support of passing the Clean Energy Jobs Act in Maryland.<\/p>\n

At one point, Sewell wrote, Maryland was a national leader in solar opportunities. In 2018, however, 800 solar jobs were lost in the state, the largest drop in the country. Sewell argued that if passed, the Clean Energy Jobs Act would \u201ccreate an estimated 20,000 new Maryland jobs through 2028\u201d and could attract investment dollars from large companies committed to a 100 percent renewable energy transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge the Maryland General Assembly to pass CEJA this year because we don’t want to be shut out of Maryland for another year and make potential job trainees in the state also wait indefinitely for those opportunities,\u201d Sewell wrote.<\/p>\n

The Maryland state legislature approved the bill on April 9,<\/a> the last day of the session. It has not yet been signed by Governor Larry Hogan.<\/p>\n

\n

We also closed the month off with a bang. One day after Earth Day, on April 23, Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser attended a ceremony commemorating the 100th installation by Solar Works DC<\/a> — a solar job training program implemented by GRID Mid-Atlantic as part of Solar for All, a program of the District of Columbia\u2019s Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) seeking to provide the benefits of solar electricity to 100,000 low-income households and reduce their energy bills by 50% by 2032.<\/p>\n

Mayor Bowser led off the event with an address<\/a> and was followed by GRID Mid-Atlantic Executive Director Nicole Steele. The mayor also participated in a ceremonial flipping-of-the-switch with homeowner — and GRID Mid-Atlantic team member — Dawn Fong to turn on Fong\u2019s new power system. <\/p>\n

The event was covered heavily by the local press<\/a>, including local TV affiliates from ABC<\/a>, Fox<\/a>, and NBC<\/a>, who were also on hand to witness Mayor Bowser\u2019s unveiling of the Sustainable DC 2.0 plan.<\/p>\n

A story about the Solar Works DC program and GRID Mid-Atlantic\u2019s impact on the region<\/a> was published in May across the NBC Universal network, reaching audiences in Washington, San Diego, New York, Boston, and Dallas, among others.<\/p>\n

\n

GRID continued to make impacts in policy and workforce development throughout April.<\/p>\n

Our policy staff, for example:<\/p>\n