Solar workers rally at utility's doorstep

Oct 08 - San Diego Union-Tribune (CA)

There was poetry, voice-cracking testimonials, slogans of social justice and a soul-infused rendition of the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun."

Two hundred or more solar workers and clean-energy enthusiasts gathered at the foot of Sempra Energy's highrise headquarters in downtown San Diego to protest utility attempts to increase electric bills for rooftop solar customers.

The outdoor, lunch-hour rally was organized by the Sierra Club and California's main solar trade group, CALSEIA. It was emceed by the Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr . and his Hip Hop Caucus , a nonprofit organization that adds a musical tempo and human rights vocabulary -- and sometimes celebrity luster -- to a variety of advocacy campaigns.

Chicago -based performance artist Malik Yusef revved up the crowd with verses about the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy: "We found a loophole, we're carbon-neutral!"

Testimonials about the environmental and economic virtues of rooftop solar energy came from a 44-year-old solar construction crew leader, a 17-year-old Carlsbad High School senior and one Rancho Bernardo -area homeowner who recently added rooftop solar panels.

San Diego Gas & Electric , a subsidiary of Sempra, believes solar customers don't pay their fair share of power-grid costs under current tariffs, and has proposed increased fees and additional electricity charges on solar customers.

Rooftop solar providers, from local contractors to national top seller SolarCity , hope to extend current tariff provisions that provide a full retail price credit for homemade electricity.

Phil Salas of San Diego , a project manager for Solar Energy Systems, described the pride and satisfaction that came with leaving a desk job to work on rooftops on clean-energy projects, and his alarm over SDG&E's solar tariff proposal.

"SDG&E claims that they're for rooftop solar," he said. "But they keep introducing things like this to scare people away. Most people think to themselves, 'Well, I don't think I want to go solar because they might change the rules.'"

Hearings on solar tariff proposals are underway this week in San Francisco . Amid the deliberations, both SDG&E and the rooftop solar industry are claiming the high moral ground.

Attached in the utility's new tariff proposal is a request to sink $50 million into solar at schools and multifamily housing in poor communities. The utility would earn a standard rate of return. SolarCity is branching out into projects on multifamily and low-income housing in California .

Mike Hale , a sales representative for SolarCity , attended the rally in an orange T-shirt that read, "We are solar."

"I believe people in San Diego should be able to have a choice to have clean energy," he said, "without being penalized or taxed by a large corporation that has had a monopoly since electricity was made available on the West Coast ."

Yearwood, of the Hip Hop Caucus , urged the crowd to act on its convictions.

"This is so important because we understand that either you will shape policy or policy will shape you," he said.

___

Visit The San Diego Union-Tribune at www.sandiegouniontribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=37587669