Two bills were signed recently by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California in order to help the state meet its ambitious renewable energy goals and boost its solar industry.
In one bill, utilities are required to buy power from a collection of small solar generators for above-market prices. The idea has been taken after looking at similar programs in Germany. The main idea behind this is to increase market access for small-scale producers of solar power to 3 megawatts from 1.5 megawatts.
According to Christopher Chow, an agency spokesman, the price has yet to be decided by The California Public Utilities Commission, that utilities will be required to pay for such power. But establishing the price at above-market rates, called a feed-in tariff, is designed to encourage growth of the renewables market.
The second bill would require utilities to pay the homeowners for excess energy they generate from their wind turbines or solar panels over the course of a year. Previously, homeowners were not compensated for extra energy they sent back to the grid.
According to a California Public Utilities Commission report released last summer, California must generate 33 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020, but it will need to triple the amount of renewable electricity it generates in order to meet the goal.
You might also like
|
|
|
|
|
At any rate, solar power is still the way to go because it does no harm to the environment and is low-priced.