By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

As the solar industry has continued to grow, it’s easy to forget that Burlington, Vermont, was the first city in the United States to go 100% solar. The Green Mountain State has quietly grown its solar industry somewhat below the radar, but there are signs that it’s beginning to mature as a market.

One such indication is that Vermont-based Suncommon, a residential solar installer, just recently received a credit facility to fund its expansion into the Hudson Valley from Citizens Bank. Earlier this year, Suncommon acquired New York-based Hudson Solar and plans to use the money to expand its operations into New York state.

Vermont has a long history of environmentally friendly activism and passion, and the growth of its solar industry – and the expansion of its companies into other states – prove that the environmentalist heart of the state continues to beat strongly. But it is also indicative of two other important trends.

First, it proves the solar industry is bicoastal. While everyone focuses on states like California, Arizona, New Mexico and the like, a strong, vibrant and healthy solar industry is taking root in the Northeast, too. Secondly, no matter what coast the solar revolution is happening on, it’s the smaller states like Vermont where the most interest should be focused. States like California, New York, Arizona and Massachusetts are already well into the solar revolution and are, naturally, setting the curve.

But it’s in states like Vermont and Wyoming, where the state’s first major solar installation is about to happen in the real hear of U.S. coal country, where the revolution is the most remarkable. As those markets begin to mature and money starts to flow into those states, that’s when we’ll know the solar revolution has finally taken hold and won’t be shaken. Suncommon’s ability to get funding for its expansion is one more positive sign that we are rapidly moving toward that day.