Drawing 65 cents a month from California ratepayers, the state
will use $3.2 billion over the next 11 years to make solar energy a
more viable option for state residents.
Committing $3.2 billion in incentive funds, the California
Public Utilities Commission approved the California Solar
Initiative Thursday by a 3-1 margin, after receiving more than
50,000 statements of support from people across the state, messages
from UCLA students among them.
CPUC has said this is more support than the commission has seen
on any other issue.
The biggest opposition to the initiative has been that it
increases already skyrocketing energy rates.
But Bernadette Del Chiaro of Environment California downplayed
the significance of the increased costs to ratepayers.
According to Del Chiaro, the benefits she and others see far
outweigh this cost.
The aim of the initiative is to install 3,000 megawatts of solar
power throughout the state.
Adam Browning, director of operations for Vote Solar, an
organization which advocated the initiative added that the
initiative is “exactly what anyone that’s interested in
fighting global warming and breathing clean (air) and developing
energy independence” would want.
It will provide rebates from 2007 to 2016 for homeowners,
businesses, farmers and government projects that use rooftop solar
panels in an attempt at making solar energy more affordable.
Browning said the decision was something that all Californians
should be proud of as it is the largest solar program in the
country.
“It’s California taking charge, leading the
way,” he said.
In the next several years, Browning said he hopes California can
reach toward leading not only the country, but also the world in
the use of solar energy.
Right now, cost is the biggest obstacle preventing more
widespread use of solar energy, Del Chiaro said.
Solar energy, Del Chiaro said, is simply a much more expensive
option at the moment.
So, by providing subsidies and driving down the cost of solar
energy, advocates hope to encourage many more Californians to take
advantage of this environment-friendly energy option.
Speaking strictly in terms of dollars, the initiative would save
the average home using solar energy $7,000 per year, bringing the
price tag for maintaining a solar-powered home down from about
$20,000 to about $13,000.
“(The initiative) goes a long way to reducing the cost of
solar power to make it more affordable,” said Justin Hotter,
energy coordinator for the California Public Interest Research
Group, which has advocated the proliferation of solar energy.
Hotter went on to say that he hopes the initiative will
“start a cascade of solar construction … in
California.”
Over the next several years, De Chiaro said the investment of
$3.2 billion through the CSI will save Californians as much as $10
million by reducing the money spent on building power plants and
purchasing electricity.