Agency proposes
a boost for solar
Nov 17, 2005 - The Press-Enterprise, Riverside,
Calif.
Author(s): Leslie Berkman
Nov. 17--In a move toward reaching Gov. Schwarzenegger's goal of a
million solar rooftops within a decade, a state agency Tuesday released
a proposal to add $300 million in rebates next year for businesses that
install solar electric systems.
If the California Public Utilities Commission gives final approval of
the plan, there will be a $342 million rebates pot for new commercial
solar installations next year, compared to about $80 million spent in
2005, to make the technology more cost-effective.
PUC spokeswoman Susan Carothers said Wednesday that the agency was
still trying to determine what impact enlargement of the rebate program
will have on electric rates.
The commission also said it intends soon to adopt "a separate and
more -- elaborate program," calling for California Solar Initiative to
provide broader incentives for the development of solar technology in
the state. It said the staffs of the PUC and California Energy
Commission will develop a proposal and present it to the PUC board no
later than Dec. 15.
While increasing the fund of rebate money, the PUC proposes to reduce
the size of each rebate. Each application of more than 30 kil owatts
would be reduced to $2.80 a watt from the current $3.50 a watt.
Demand for the PUC's commercial solar rebate program has been so
great that rebate money for 2005 ran dry several months ago. PUC
Administrative Law Judge Kim Malcolm, who issued Tuesday's decision,
said an estimated $200 million in commercial projects are on a waiting
list.
The reimbursement per watt is recommended to be reduced, Malcolm
said, to make the money stretch farther. "We don't want to spend more
than we have to," she said.
"This is, I believe, the (Schwarzenegger) administration's response
to the brick wall that SB 1 hit at the end of the legislative session,"
said Bob Raymer, technical director for the California Building Industry
Association, referring to the governor's solar bill.
Legislation, which would have provided up to $1.8 billion in solar
incentives with the goal of having 3,000 megawatts of solar rooftop
panels installed in 10 years, had the broad support of home builders,
environmentalists and utilities, but bogged down in the Assembly over
labor issues, Raymer said, including prevailing -- wage issues.
Bernadette Del Chiaro, clean -- energy advocate with Environment
California, a strong supporter of solar energy, said the group welcomed
the increase in subsidies for the commercial solar systems.
But she said other steps need to be taken to achieve the governor's
solar objectives, such as requiring home builders to provide a solar
electricity option on all new homes and raising the cap on the amount of
solar electricity fed into the statewide transmission grid that
utilities will credit. Both of these measures require legislation and
cannot be accomplished by the PUC, she said.
Malcolm said the PUC also does not have authority to increase funding
for a separate rebate program aimed at smaller solar systems installed
primarily on homes. That program, she said, is administered by the
California Energy Commission.
Unlike the PUC, the California Energy Commission does not have a
waiting list for its residential rebate program, said Tim Tutt, adviser
to California Energy Commissioner Jackalyne Pfannenstiel . Tutt said the
energy commission program has been funding rebates at the rate of about
$30 million a year.
As of Nov. 8, he said, the commission had $58 million in solar rebate
funds left for the remainder of 2005 and 2006. If that money runs out,
he said, the commission can replenish the fund by shifting money from
other renewable -- energy programs that have not been tapped.
According to the PUC, both its solar -- rebate program and that of
the energy commission have consistently exhausted their funding
allocations, which over the years have exceeded $1 billion.
The objectives of both rebate programs, Malcolm said in the decision,
are to diversify the state's energy portfolio and reduce demand for
additional transmission and distribution facilities.
A joint report of the PUC and the energy commission recommends
consolidating the residential and commercial solar incentives programs
into a single program by June 2006.
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