Thoughts on Solar by Run on Sun's Founder & CEO, Jim Jenal

On February 26, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 510 (Skinner, D-Berkeley) into law.  (Hat tip to the folks at California Green Building Blog for the link.)  As we reported previously (read about it here), under the law prior to the Governor’s signature, utilities did not have to allow any additional net-metering agreements in their service area once they reached 2.5% of their peak power demand.  Having the highest installed base as a percentage of peak demand, PG&E was coming close to the 2.5% limit.  (Sadly, the utilities here in Southern California were in no danger of hitting the limit any time soon.)  The new law doubles that cap to 5%.  Since every residential solar installation in California that ties into the utility grid requires a net-metering agreement, this new law effectively doubles the allowable amount of installed solar power installations throughout the state.

That is especially good news to installers and their potential customers in PG&E land, but it is also good news for all of us in California as it eliminates one more potential obstacle for future planning around solar.  As readers of this blog will surely know, California has lead the nation in its aggressive efforts to promote solar and other forms of renewable energy.  (The Governor’s press release does a good job of summarizing some of these recent efforts - read it here.)  Signing Assembly Member Skinner’s bill into law continues that progress, and further enhances the Governor’s well-earned reputation for leading the charge for renewable energy development.

Of course, where one Governor can lead, another can sound the retreat.  Something to think about in this election year.