Public Utilities California to weigh program to fund low-income solar installations
By Matt Nauman, Mercury News, Nov 14, 2007
Source: MercuryNews.com
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7462532?nclick_check=1
Low-income homeowners in California might soon have access to a $108 million fund to put solar panels on their roofs, but an advocacy group for the poor questions the effectiveness of a program that doesn’t pay for all the cost of the installations. The issue comes up for a vote at the Friday meeting of the state’s Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco. The program, part of California’s Solar Initiative, will provide full subsidies for one kilowatt solar-energy systems to single-family, owner-occupied households that qualify as “extremely” or “very low income” – those making up to 50 percent of an area’s median income. A PUC spokeswoman said this could range from $25,750 for a four-person household in Fresno County to $56,550 for the same size household in San Francisco County.
Partial subsidies, covering 50 to 75 percent of the cost of a two-kilowatt solar system, will be offered to “low-income” households. The goal is to have 1,000 solar systems on low-income, single-family homes by the end of 2010, and perhaps 7,000 to 9,600 over the 10-year life of the program. The PUC couldn’t estimate how much the participating homeowners will save on their utility bills. The program will be administered by the state’s investor-owned utilities, such as San Francisco’s Pacific Gas & Electric, and paid for by ratepayers.
Last year, the PUC committed $2.2 billion over 10 years for solar incentives, and required that 10 percent of that be spent for lower-income residential projects. (The $108 million represents about half the amount for the program. The commission will use the rest to establish a multi-family solar incentive program later.) The money can be used for solar photo-voltaic systems, but not for solar water heaters.
The Greenlining Institute, a Berkeley advocacy group for minority and low-income citizens, endorses the concept of solar roofs for low-income citizens. It “will not only bolster the state economy, but will also provide a model for formulating sustainable environmental policies worldwide,” said Jesse Raskin, a legal associate. But, in correspondence with the PUC, the group questioned whether partial credits and a $10,000 cap would prevent some families from participating in the program. Greenlining suggested the commission work to establish a system of “green loans” for low-income residents to help fund the gap between the incentives and installation costs.