The 2010 East Tennessee Solar Tour and Fair will feature everything from workshops on existing solar opportunities - and the financial incentives available to help pay for them - to a self-guided tour of local homes and businesses already benefiting from solar power during its two-day run beginning Friday, October 1.

The second annual event celebrating all things solar opens with the Solar Fair in Krutch Park Extension from 5-8 p.m., that Friday and continues Saturday, October 2, with a free Solar 101 workshop - or solar basics - at Ijams Nature Center from 8 - 9:30 a.m.

The Solar Tour follows from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday and includes nearly two dozen homes and businesses that employ solar technology to help meet their energy needs.

Most of the tour sites are in Knoxville and Knox County and visitors will be able to see how solar power is already changing the energy and sustainability landscape in the Knoxville area. The tour includes a terrific variety of solar powered sites ranging from homes and businesses to a detention center, a pavilion and a solar farm.

Jake Tisinger, the City of Knoxville's sustainability coordinator, said nearly 20 local solar energy experts and companies will among the exhibitors in the Solar Fair.

"We want to help people go solar," Tisinger said. "Our goal with these events is to increase the awareness of what's already in Knoxville in terms of solar technology and to provide people with the resources they need to get involved."

"There will be local professionals who can answer all your questions" he added. "They can talk about return on investment, system costs and incentives and the different options that a homeowner or a business owner would have. So if you're interested in solar energy this is a great opportunity."

The City of Knoxville's Solar America Cities Program and the Southern Alliance for Clear Energy are the organizers of the East Tennessee Solar Tour and Fair. Other sponsors include the Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville Utilities Board, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee Business Leaders, S&W Grand, Sustainable Future, Kemery Company, Efficient Energy of Tennessee, FLS Energy, Green Earth Solar, and Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development (SEEED).

Saturday's event is being held in conjunction with the American Solar Energy Society's National Solar Tour, which is in its 15th year and involves more than 3,000 communities nationwide.

Knoxville was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2008 as one of only 25 Solar America Cities. The city is working with partners like the DOE, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville Utilities Board, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Department of Community Development to remove the barriers to solar deployment in the city.

For more information about the program please go to www.solarknoxville.org.

More Information about the 2010 Knoxville Solar Tour & Fair is available at the recently launched website www.solarknoxville.org or contact Jake Tisinger at 865-215-2065 or at [email protected].