Calif Governor Signs Solar-Power Feed-In Tariff Bill Into Law
By Cassandra Sweet, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
SAN FRANCISCO -(Dow Jones)- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed
legislation Sunday that will create a European-style above-market tariff, called
a feed-in tariff, for small solar-panel generators.
California's abundant sunshine, relatively high utility rates and solar
subsidies have already made the state one of the world's top solar markets. The
proposal seeks to expand the market by requiring California utilities to buy
power from solar-panel generators of 1.5-3.0 megawatts in size, at set rates
above what the utilities would pay for wholesale power from conventional
sources.
Some solar companies said the bill's pricing scheme would create a feed-in
tariff of about 15 to 17 cents a kilowatt-hour, which they said wouldn't be high
enough to spur significant investment. But others said the program would create
opportunities for lower-cost projects for which there isn't currently a market.
Supporters of the legislation, including the California Solar Energy
Industries Association, said the bill's feed-in tariff will be high enough for
schools, local governments, farms, warehouses and other low-cost property owners
to take advantage of it.
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (STP), SunPower Corp. (SPWRA), Applied
Materials Inc. (AMAT) and other companies have pointed to a separate effort at
the California Public Utilities Commission to establish a feed-in tariff-type
program as more viable.
The CPUC staff has proposed requiring the state's three large utilities, owned
by PG&E Corp. (PCG), Edison International (EIX) and Sempra Energy (SRE), to
collectively buy 1,000 megawatts of power from solar-panel generators sized
between 1 MW and 20 MW over four years through "reverse auctions" in which they
would pick the projects with the lowest bids to meet their requirements. The
agency is still reviewing proposals for the program and could make a decision
sometime next year.
In a letter to the state Senate on Sunday, Governor Schwarzenegger said he was
signing the bill because the state "will need to use all of the tools available"
to meet its goal of using renewable sources for a third of electricity sold by
utilities by 2020.
The CPUC should proceed with its own feed-in tariff program, he said.
-By Cassandra Sweet, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-269-4446; cassandra.sweet@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-12-090002ET
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