Solar Stakeholder Meeting Memo
If Los Angeles is going to achieve its goals of eliminating its use of dirty coal electricity and producing 40% of our power from renewables by 2020 the city will have to make significant investments in solar power. In 2008 the Los Angeles Department of Power released its “Solar LA” plan a commitment to bring nearly 1300 MW of power onto the electric grid. Once enacted the plan will consist of three solar components: rooftop solar, large scale solar, and customer incentive programs.
The upfront cost of solar is high but its benefits far outweigh the costs of continued dependence on dirty fossil fuels:
1. Investing in solar is like buying 40 years of clean green fuel upfront – Coal on the other hand is an increasingly risky investment. Coal prices have been increasing and will continue to increase as state and national legislation levy costs on CO2 emissions, the environmental costs of coal extraction continue to rise, global demand for coal increases, and the global supply decreases. Solar on the other hand only needs to be bought and installed and then have the sun continue to shine as it always has.
2. Solar keeps and creates jobs in California and LA – We get our coal fired power from outside of California so every dollar we spend on coal goes out of the state. Solar power is a job creator: according to a UC Berkeley analysis of five renewable job creation studies, solar PV creates 20 manufacturing and 13 installation/maintenance job-years per Megawatt of solar installed.*
3. Solar power will help us clean our air and fight climate change – Every MW of solar power that’s installed will eliminate tons of dirty fossil-fuel air pollution every year. And we will all be able to participate by turning our houses, businesses, schools, and other public buildings into clean sun-fueled power plants.
The Different Components
Utility Owned Rooftop Solar
Installing solar panels on rooftops allows LADWP to take advantage of the City’s excellent solar resources and ample supply of rooftop space. Also, installing panels in the city minimizes the need for new costly transmission infrastructure and the associated power losses that occur while transporting power over long distances. A point of contention has been whether only LADWP employees should be allowed to install panels or private installers should also be included. EndOil believes that both the private and public sector should be involved and that local well-paid labor and manufacturers should be utilized.
Large Scale Solar
The construction and/or purchase of Large Scale Solar will be a vital part of reaching the 1300 MW goal and has the potential to achieve the most cost-effective solar prices. Care should be taken however to ensure that the plants themselves and the transmission infrastructure do not damage sensitive natural habitats.
Customer Incentive Programs
There are three major customer incentive programs being considered as part of the solar program.
Residential – In addition to a combination of state and federal tax rebates other options should be made available. The first is a property tax assessment whereby the cost of a solar system is rolled into an owner’s property tax to be paid off over a span of many years. Another is providing owners with low-cost loans to make systems more affordable.
Feed-in Tariffs – Although LADWP doesn’t currently allow for producers to sell power to the city a feed-in tariff would allow for developers to enter into long-term contracts to produce power and sell it to LADWP at higher than normal market rates. This model has been successfully used elsewhere in the country and the world.
SunShares – This program would allow those people who can’t install solar on their residences to own a virtual share of a solar power plant for which they would receive a credit on their utility bills.
Customer programs will be vital in allowing families and individuals the ability to contribute towards greening our electric grid and in the process save and even make money. They will also play a pivotal role in creating green jobs as part of LA’s economic recovery. The critical part in making the customer incentive programs will be rolling out an aggressive marketing program that reaches and informs as many people as possible.
Come join us in advocating for a Solar LA that includes all of us and gets us closer to our goal of kicking the dirty coal habit and generating 40% of our renewable power by 2020.
Sign up for one of the Solar workshops in LA now.
562-424-8200
rwiggins@endoil.org
The upfront cost of solar is high but its benefits far outweigh the costs of continued dependence on dirty fossil fuels:
1. Investing in solar is like buying 40 years of clean green fuel upfront – Coal on the other hand is an increasingly risky investment. Coal prices have been increasing and will continue to increase as state and national legislation levy costs on CO2 emissions, the environmental costs of coal extraction continue to rise, global demand for coal increases, and the global supply decreases. Solar on the other hand only needs to be bought and installed and then have the sun continue to shine as it always has.
2. Solar keeps and creates jobs in California and LA – We get our coal fired power from outside of California so every dollar we spend on coal goes out of the state. Solar power is a job creator: according to a UC Berkeley analysis of five renewable job creation studies, solar PV creates 20 manufacturing and 13 installation/maintenance job-years per Megawatt of solar installed.*
3. Solar power will help us clean our air and fight climate change – Every MW of solar power that’s installed will eliminate tons of dirty fossil-fuel air pollution every year. And we will all be able to participate by turning our houses, businesses, schools, and other public buildings into clean sun-fueled power plants.
The Different Components
Utility Owned Rooftop Solar
Installing solar panels on rooftops allows LADWP to take advantage of the City’s excellent solar resources and ample supply of rooftop space. Also, installing panels in the city minimizes the need for new costly transmission infrastructure and the associated power losses that occur while transporting power over long distances. A point of contention has been whether only LADWP employees should be allowed to install panels or private installers should also be included. EndOil believes that both the private and public sector should be involved and that local well-paid labor and manufacturers should be utilized.
Large Scale Solar
The construction and/or purchase of Large Scale Solar will be a vital part of reaching the 1300 MW goal and has the potential to achieve the most cost-effective solar prices. Care should be taken however to ensure that the plants themselves and the transmission infrastructure do not damage sensitive natural habitats.
Customer Incentive Programs
There are three major customer incentive programs being considered as part of the solar program.
Residential – In addition to a combination of state and federal tax rebates other options should be made available. The first is a property tax assessment whereby the cost of a solar system is rolled into an owner’s property tax to be paid off over a span of many years. Another is providing owners with low-cost loans to make systems more affordable.
Feed-in Tariffs – Although LADWP doesn’t currently allow for producers to sell power to the city a feed-in tariff would allow for developers to enter into long-term contracts to produce power and sell it to LADWP at higher than normal market rates. This model has been successfully used elsewhere in the country and the world.
SunShares – This program would allow those people who can’t install solar on their residences to own a virtual share of a solar power plant for which they would receive a credit on their utility bills.
Customer programs will be vital in allowing families and individuals the ability to contribute towards greening our electric grid and in the process save and even make money. They will also play a pivotal role in creating green jobs as part of LA’s economic recovery. The critical part in making the customer incentive programs will be rolling out an aggressive marketing program that reaches and informs as many people as possible.
Come join us in advocating for a Solar LA that includes all of us and gets us closer to our goal of kicking the dirty coal habit and generating 40% of our renewable power by 2020.
Sign up for one of the Solar workshops in LA now.
562-424-8200
rwiggins@endoil.org
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