Wonderful news for solar in the Golden State: this past weekend, Governor Brown signed SB 43 into law! A huge thank you to the Governor for his leadership in approving this new program that will allow renters and thousands of other Californians to go solar for the first time. And another enormous thank you to Senator Wolk and to all the citizens, businesses, schools and organizations that supported the campaign over the last three years and made this success possible.
SB 43, authored by Lois Wolk (Davis), creates an innovative green power program that allows any customer of our state’s largest utilities – PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E – to purchase up to 100% renewable electricity for their home or business. That clean power would come from small to medium-sized solar and other renewables projects. Participants would then receive a credit on their utility bill for the clean energy produced. You can read more in our recent blog post here.
“SB 43 will not only help California meet its renewable energy goals, it will bring much-needed clean energy into areas of the state that need it most,” said Strela Cervas with the California Environmental Justice Alliance in Senator Wolk’s news release. “The communities I work in suffer alarming rates of premature death, asthma, lost work days, and respiratory related absences. This program begins to address this green divide by directing more local renewable energy into low-income communities of color that are impacted first and worst from climate change, while creating sustainable long-term clean energy careers in these communities.” Hear hear!
While the approval of the bill is a critical step forward, many of the program parameters won’t be determined until the CPUC implements SB 43, no later than July 2014. We at Vote Solar look forward to working with the Commission to ensure we get the implementation details right, including providing customers with choices regarding which clean energy project they subscribe to, and fairly valuing the clean energy generated under the program. Here’s to another solar success in California!
Vote Solar is a non-profit grassroots organization working to fight climate change and foster economic opportunity by bringing solar energy into the mainstream.
1 comment
I live in Sacramento, and the solar industry is thriving here thanks to legislation.
The more people know about renewable energy and its benefits, the more likely they are to get it.
Help support the local economy by getting solar with a Sacramento solar company, instead of a big national company.
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