Solar power encouraged in San Francisco

By John Upton
Examiner Staff Writer 10/2/08

SAN FRANCISCO – Mayor Gavin Newsom shone the light on a solar-incentive program for businesses Wednesday and also added a new initiative he said could encourage more companies to install the environmentally friendly technology.

Newsom last year announced he would use city funds previously earmarked for a city-owned solar array to subsidize private solar panel installations.

After six months of political bickering, the Board of Supervisors approved a one-year, $3 million pilot program, which funds up to $6,000 per residential installation and $10,000 per business installation.

Anyone who installed solar panels after Newsom announced the program in December is eligible for the incentive payments.

Businesses, however, have lagged behind residents and homeowners in taking advantage of a program that lowers solar panel installation costs.

The number of installations has jumped 25 percent to 871 since Newsom’s announcement, according to the Department of the Environment and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Since June, The City has received rebate applications for panels planned on 137 homes and seven businesses, according to San Francisco Public Utilities Commission figures. Three nonprofits have also signed up.

On Tuesday, Newsom announced he would send letters this week to scores of businesses and offer them free solar assessments and energy audits using $200,000 of U.S. Department of Energy funds.

“I think businesses are just not aware of the opportunity,” Newsom said Wednesday. “We identified 1,600 businesses through our solar-mapping technology that are ideal for solar installation. They represent, literally, 170 megawatts of opportunity for San Francisco. Consider that we only have 5 megawatts today.”

The City is still working through “kinks” in the incentive program, Renewable Energy Program Manager Johanna Partin said. For example, it might start funneling subsidies directly into installation companies to help customers avoid taxes on the handouts.

Separately, efforts are under way to find a financial partner to provide city-backed, low-interest loans on solar panel installations that would be repaid through property assessments, but that program may be hamstrung by problems in the national credit markets, Public Finance Director Nadia Sesay said.

The program is similar to one first devised by the city of Berkeley.

jupton@sfexaminer.com

Examiner Staff Writer Brent Begin contributed to this report.