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News Release
For
Immediate Release:
August
21, 2006 Contact:
Bernadette Del
Chiaro 916-446-8062 x 103
MILLION SOLAR ROOFS BILL
(SB 1) SIGNED INTO LAW!
Los Angeles
– After three years, the Million Solar Roofs bill, SB 1,
authored by Senator Kevin Murray, was signed into law
this morning by Governor Schwarzenegger at a ceremony
held at the new solar powered
CalTrans building in downtown Los Angeles.
“Turning the vision of building a million solar roofs
into state law has been a long-time coming,” said
Bernadette Del Chiaro, Clean Energy Advocate with
Environment California, the leading sponsor of the
Million Solar Roofs bill. “But in the end, this law was
worth the wait and the fight that it took to turn a
great idea into a landmark law.”
SB 1
compliments the California Solar Initiative established
by the Public Utilities Commission in January and puts
California on track toward
building a million solar roofs in the next ten years.
The main components of the bill include:
a) Increasing
the cap on net metering—a program that allows solar
customers to get a credit on their electric bill for
excess power generated by their solar system. SB 1
increases the cap from 0.5% of a utility’s total load to
2.5% enabling approximately 500,000 new solar system
owners into the net metering program.
b) Mandating
that solar panels become a standard option for all new
homebuyers, enabling new home buyers to choose to add
solar panels to their new home while it is being
constructed. The bill also directs the California Energy
Commission to determine if and when solar power should
be mandated on new construction as a standard,
non-optional feature.
c) Requiring
that the state’s municipal utilities create their own
solar rebate program, totaling $800 million in rebate
funds to drive municipal utility ratepayers toward solar
power.
d) Directing
the California State Licensing Board to review current
licensing requirements for solar installers and
determine whether or not they are adequately trained to
install the million solar roofs expected to be built as
a result of this program.
“With
this new law, California is
on pace to becoming the Saudi Arabia of the sun,” said
Del Chiaro. “The sky is no limit when it comes to how
much of our energy can come from solar power. With high
energy prices, rolling blackouts, and growing air
pollution problems, everyone in California will benefit
from the building of a million solar roofs in the next
ten years.”
SB 1
will take affect January 1,
2007.
From L to R: SB 1 Author Senator Kevin Murray (D-LA),
Assemblymember Lloyd Levine
(D-Van Nuys), Assemblymember
Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo), Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, and Bernadette Del Chiaro of Environment
California at the signing of SB 1, The Million Solar
Roofs bill. Cara Horowitz of NRDC, Annette Kondo of
Coalition for Clean Air, and Jan McFarland of Americans
for Solar Power also joined the event along with staff
of Environment California. (Photo Credit: John Decker,
Office of Gov. Schwarzenegger)
Bernadette Del Chiaro
Clean Energy Advocate
Environment California
1107 9th Street, Suite 601
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-446-8062 x 103
916-448-4560 (fax)
bernadette@environmentcalifornia.org
www.environmentcalifornia.org
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