The Routt County Board of Commissioners will match a contribution from the city of Steamboat Springs to help set up a regional solar co-op in Northwest Colorado.

Each government is contributing $10,000, which gets the group Solar United Neighbors to their funding goal, though commissioners said they still wanted organizers to pursue other local funding.

The group is working with regional partners like the Craig and Meeker chambers of commerce, but so far all the money for the effort is coming from Routt County. Bryce Carter, Colorado’s program director for SUN, said they would continue to pursue other funding, but that the county’s contribution allows them to move forward with the effort.

Commissioners signaled they would provide some money to the effort last week, but didn’t decide on a final amount until Tuesday, April 19. Commissioner Tim Corrigan recused himself from the decision saying he was personally interested in the effort and wanted to avoid any potential conflict.

To reach Dylan Anderson, call 970-871-4247 or email danderson@SteamboatPilot.com.