LA Weekly

The four eligible voting members of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) are scheduled to decide January 12 whether to outfit a million California buildings with solar power with $3.2 billion in rebates and low-income ratepayer support. According to Environment California's math, the proposed California Solar Initiative -- a virtual carbon copy of the Million Solar Roofs bill that stalled out in the Assembly last year -- would add "the equivalent of six power plants" to California's energy portfolio, which may help the state wean itself off other states' coal.

If you recall, it was mostly a standoff with the IBEW over "who gets the jobs" (see Dean Kuipers' CityBeat interview with EC's Bernadette Del Chiaro here) that brought down the proposal in the Assembly. Intriguingly, EC's press release addresses that: "What's also exciting is that we've won the support of even more allies for this policy initiative, including the California Apollo Alliance made up of leading labor unions."

I want to know more. In the meantime, Environment California's take action form is here.

On a related note, the Solar Living Center in Hopland, where they teach ordinary slobs like me to install their own solar electricity, was utterly devastated by last week's floods, and is in desperate need of help to stay alive. They need volunteers to help cleanup tomorrow, and $150,000 to repair the water and fire damage. I've always meant to take one of their affordable and highly recommended classes, so I'm inclined to help them out. I hope others do, too.

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The California Public Utilities Commission yesterday unveiled its version of Million Solar Roofs: an 11-year, $3.2 billion incentive program to cover a million roofs in the state with photovoltaic arrays to pull down 3,000 megawatts of power from that big, bad nuclear reactor in the sky. Approval could go through as soon as mid-January, and would make California the king of renewable power.

Environment California's news release is here; the CPUC report is here (in PDF).

Thanks for the news to Rochelle Becker of Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, who contends in an e-mail that "this is a bargain price" compared to fixing and maintaining "California's aging nuclear plants." Assuming that replacing the steam generators at San Onofre and Diablo Canyon will cost around $1.5 billion to $2 billion (the lowest estimate to the highest for both plants combined), she may have a point.

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