California plans $3 billion for solar energy projects
Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com
December 13, 2005
Tuesday the California Public Utilities Commission announced an ambitious program to expand the market for solar power, proposing to provide $2.8 billion of incentives toward solar development over the next 11 years.
The plan would offer more than $3 billion in consumer rebates over the next decade and aims to install panels to produce 3,000 megawatts of solar energy on 1 million homes, businesses and public buildings. Environmentalists said the California Solar Initiative could help reduce the cost of solar energy, create jobs and reduce greenhouse gases emissions blamed for global warming.
“With rising energy prices and continued air pollution, this is exactly the kind of landmark initiative California needs,” Bernadette Del Chiaro, clean energy advocate for Environment California, told the Associated Press. “From this, we’re going to see cleaner air, affordable solar energy and California regaining its world leadership in solar power.”
The proposed initiative follows the state’s approval of a project that would put some 20,000 solar dishes in the Mohave Desert to generate 500 megawatts of electricity. A second project in the Imperial Valley, east of San Diego, is awaiting state approval. Green energy advocates hope the two large solar projects in the desert of California could boost industrial-scale development of solar technology.
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California’s move towards solar technology and other green energy sources comes after a state study found significant evidence that greenhouse gas pollution can be substantially reduced at a profit rather than a cost. The study, commissioned by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, found that energy efficiency has helped the California economy grow an extra 3 percent – a $31 billion gain – compared to business as usual. Further, the researchers say that each Californian typically saved about $1,000 per year between 1975 and 1995 just through efficiency standards for buildings and appliances.
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