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Photovoltacis/Legislation 050630
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Governor Schwarzenegger releases latest version of comprehensive solar energy legislation in California. The SB-1, a bi-partisan bill, focuses on ensuring long term stability for solar through a guarantee of declining buy-down rebates for no less than 10 years. The bill is said to create a boom of solar development in the next decade. An Associated Press article in the Desert Sun in Palm Springs said that the goal was to have 3,000 megaWatts of solar/PV power by 2018 or 5 percent of the state’s entire electrical usage at peak periods - usually in the hot summer. (“Schwarzenegger to unveil compromise solar energy proposal today” by Don Thompson, 02/28/05, p. A5) David Hochschild, Director of Programs for the California-based Vote Solar Initiative said the rebate level for both residential and commercial systems would be about $2.80/Watt. With approximately 3,000 megaWatts of solar/PV power, 1 million homes or businesses could have 3kW systems.