The South Coast Energy Challenge wants all tri-town residents to be a part of their effort to reduce South Coast energy use by 15 percent in five years.

The group has helped more than 2,000 residents receive home energy assessments and another 100 residents install solar projects. On Sunday, Feb. 9 a Tri-Town Solar Tour spread the campaign’s message further.

Fifteen residents, including the South Coast Energy Challenge’s Assistant Director, Karen Stewart, and Community Organizing Manager, Diana Painter, visited properties in Marion, Rochester and Mattapoisett to discuss the ins and outs of solar installations and equipment.

The nonprofit organization held its first tour in Fairhaven in December.

“We had a small but engaged group of residents and we toured eight homes,” said Stewart. “We were able to view ground mounted systems, small and large arrays and talk to homeowners with varied experiences and motivations.”

Painter added that the tour, “was fun, educational, and everything we wanted it to be. It was such a success, we had to duplicate it with this Tri-Town Solar Tour.”

The tour included nine properties in the tri-town. Each installation differed in display, set up and function.

The first property visited was Bob Lawrence’s ground-mounted unit, installed May of 2009 in Rochester.

“I’ve dreamed about this ever since I worked in the utility industry, before I had it built,” he said.

At the next property the tour met Arty Leonard, an employee of Real Good Solar Energy.

The company has been in business since 1978 and is the oldest solar company in the country. Leonard showed the group a device on a long pole called a “SunEye.”

He described the SunEye as “a tool to find out how much production you’re going to get out of a site.”

Stewart said he decided to make his property a stop on the tour to raise awareness.

“Being able to see panel arrays and equipment up close, view [photovoltaic] monitoring systems and hear about the energy production, return on investment, financing options and installation details makes solar seem more approachable for some people,” said Stewart. “This tour opened some doors for people who are ready to learn more.”

There is one more solar tour set for Dartmouth in April. A solar open house will take place before that at one of the homes that has installed solar under the campaign’s program.

“The program will wrap up at the end of March, and this will give residents of the tri-town an opportunity to visit another solar installation and talk to a homeowner about their motivations,” said Stewart.