California's Million Solar Roofs Bill Passes Second Assembly Committee

California's Million Solar Roofs Bill Passes Second Assembly Committee

California's Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee passed the Million Solar Roofs bill, SB 1, last week with a bi-partisan vote of 6-1. The Housing Committee vote came after another favorable vote, 7-0, in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.

"Hands down, this is the biggest environmental bill of the year," said Bernadette Del Chiaro, Clean Energy Advocate with Environment California who has been working to pass the solar bill since 2003. "With continued leadership in the assembly such as we've seen in the Energy and Housing committees, California can show the world just how serious we are about solving our energy and air pollution problems by turning our abundant sunshine into clean, affordable and reliable energy."

The Million Solar Roofs bill has three primary co-authors, Senator Kevin Murray (Los Angeles), Senator John Campbell (Orange County), and Assembly Member Lloyd Levine (Van Nuys) and is officially endorsed by Governor Schwarzenegger, 17 bipartisan and bicameral state legislators, and more than 50 businesses, environmental and consumer organizations, cities, and labor unions.

The Million Solar Roofs bill promises to build a million solar power systems over 10 years, growing the California solar market, already the third largest in the world, by 30-fold, lowering the cost of solar power and bringing clean air and energy independence to the state. The bill would accomplish this goal by providing consumers with the long-term financial incentives needed to invest in solar power. Such goals would grow California's solar market from 100 MW to over 3,000 MW. Economic modeling by the Environment California Research & Policy Center shows this kind of sustained growth would be enough to cut the cost of installing solar panels, currently around $8.50/watt, in half by 2015, the price point at which the panels are cost-effective without subsidies.

Key provisions of the bill include:

--A $2.5 billion fund to homeowners and businesses for one-time rebates over 10 years.
--An increase in the cap on net metering from 0.5 percent of a utility peak load to 5 percent, allowing a million new customers to receive a credit on their electric bill for any excess power generated by their solar panels.
--A requirement that new, large single-family housing developments make solar panels a standard offer, similar to marble countertops, to all new homebuyers.
--A 10 percent carve-out in the fund for solar on affordable housing and low-income homes and exemption for low-income ratepayers from paying into the fund.

A recent analysis commissioned by the Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission finds that investing $2.5 billion in customer-owned solar power over 10 years will save rate payers more than $10 billion in avoided electricity generation costs over the 20-year life of the solar panels.

The Million Solar Roofs bill will head next to Assembly Appropriations Committee, with a hearing and vote likely after the legislature reconvenes August 15 from summer break. The Appropriations Committee must hear and vote on the bill by August 26 before being sent to the assembly floor. If passed, it will head back to the senate for concurrence before being sent to the governor's desk by September 9.

Published 07/14/2005