Jan 15 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Tom Beal The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

Count on Berkeley, Calif., to bring solar power to the people with a plan to make 20-year funding available to folks who want to put solar panels on their roofs and pay for them in their property tax bills.

The plan, approved by Berkeley's City Council in November, gets around solar's biggest stumbling block, which is not the Bay Area fog, but the high upfront cost of buying and installing photovoltaic systems.

Solar has been a hard sell hereabouts as well, even with sunnier skies, utility subsidies and federal tax credits available, because most Tucsonans can't wrap their minds around paying for technology that won't fully pay for itself through lowered electric bills for up to 20 years.

That's why the city is looking closely at the Berkeley model and considering its adoption here.

The Berkeley plan would allow homeowners to pay the cost of installing photovoltaic panels on their roofs in yearly increments over 20 years -- and to pass on that cost to the future owners of the homes along with the benefit of lowered electric bills.

Read more in tomorrow's Arizona Daily Star