The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a 10-year Solar Incentive Program which now goes to the Mayor for approval. It’s purpose is to reduce the cost to install solar panels on residential and commercial properties.
The Program, which should go into effect in the coming weeks, has an initial budget of $3 million – about 1.5 MW of solar. A 1-year pilot program would budget $1.5 million to buildings owned and operated by nonprofit organizations and low-income single and multifamily residential applicants.
The program will fund solar incentives ranging from $3,000-$6,000 for residents, up to $10,000 for businesses that install solar and up to $30,000 for non-profit affordable housing.
Phil Ting, the City Assessor, says "I am thrilled that legislation co-sponsored by myself and Supervisor Dufty to create the Solar Energy Incentive Program, the nation’s largest municipal solar program, was finally passed upon second reading by the Board of Supervisors. After a six-month long effort there is now a long-term commitment to incentivizing solar rooftop installations in the city.
In other news, Arizona State University (ASU) placed orders for 2 megawatts (MW) of solar PV – the largest deployment of solar infrastructure by any U.S. university.
It awarded contracts to Honeywell Building Systems, Independent Energy Group and SolEquity to install solar panels on 135,000 square feet of building rooftop space and some parking structures on its Tempe campus.
Installation begins in August and should be operating by December 2008. The system will provide about 7% of the energy at the Tempe campus. ASU plans to install a total of about 7MW at the Tempe campus as well as on other campuses over the next several years.
The solar system is being built under a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), where ASU doesn’t pay for the installation, but agrees to buy the solar energy long term for a fixed price.
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