California Utilities Commission Approves Disputed Sunrise Powerlink Solar Power Line

The first skirmish in what promises to be a war of attrition between groups that want maximum supplies of renewable energy and groups that want maximum protections for landscapes and endangered wildlife ended Thursday when the California Public Utilities Commission, in a 4-to-1 vote, approved a 123-mile, $1.9 billion power line from El Centro to northwestern San Diego.

The line from the desert sands of the Imperial Valley would bring in enough energy - wind and solar energy, the commission expects - to power more than half a million homes and businesses in San Diego.

The Sunrise Powerlink Transmission Project proposed by San Diego Gas and Electric Co. provoked anger among local environmental groups, which were successful in persuading the commission not to allow the line to run through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

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California Gives Green Light to Cap-and-Trade Action Plan

Regulators give final approval to wide ranging climate change package

The state of California has formally adopted the strictest environmental regulations anywhere in the US last week, committing to a package of measures designed to cut emissions 15 per cent by 2020.

Under the wide-ranging plans, the state will require utilities to generate a third of power from renewable sources by 2020 and will also introduce a raft of binding targets governing emissions from cars, oil refineries, buildings and landfill sites.

The primary mechanism for achieving the targets will be the adoption of a regional carbon cap-and-trade scheme, known as the Western Climate Initiative, as part of a wider coalition of western states and Canadian provinces designed to put a price on carbon emissions for the most polluting industries.

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California Leads Fight Against Climate Change on Global Level

Gov. Schwarzenegger signs a pact with heads of other states and provinces to cut greenhouse emissions. ‘We have got to do something worldwide here,’ he says.

California formally moved to spread its can-do global warming gospel around the world, signing a declaration Wednesday with 11 other U.S. states and provinces or states in five other countries to help them slash their greenhouse gas emissions.

Fighting climate change shouldn’t just go “nation by nation,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a climate summit in Beverly Hills attended by more than 700 delegates from 19 countries. It must go “province by province. . . . We have got to do something worldwide here,” he said.

California’s unusual state-level diplomacy comes as President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to invigorate U.S. participation in negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which took effect in 2005 — and which the Bush administration declined to join.

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Pacific Gas and Electric Company Interconnects 25,000th Net Metered Solar Customer in Northern and Central California

Utility’s 25,000 Solar Interconnections Make up Almost Half of Nation’s Customer-Owned Solar

SAN FRANCISCO - Pacific Gas and Electric Company today celebrated the 25,000th net metered solar interconnection in its northern and central California service area, representing almost half of the nation’s customer-owned solar. Net energy metering allows eligible renewable customers to offset the cost of their electric usage with energy they export to the power grid. The 25,000th PG&E net metered solar customer, David Bower, is also part of the California Solar Initiative (CSI) program. To encourage customer investment in solar, PG&E provides rebate incentives that will total $4,500 for a system that supplies 2.4 kilowatts (kW) of power to Bower’s home.

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California Assembly Bill 811 Signed Into Law

 

Assembly Bill 811 (AB 811), is an environmental law in California, signed into law by Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger on July 21, 2008. AB 811 was authored by Assemblyman Lloyd Levin.

AB 811 would authorize all cities and counties in California to designate areas within which willing property owners could enter into contractual assessments to finance the installation of distributed renewable energy generation, as well as energy efficiency improvements, that are permanently fixed to the property owner’s residential, commercial, industrial, or other real property. These financing arrangements would allow property owners to finance renewable generation and energy efficiency improvements through low-interest loans that would be repaid as an item on the property owner’s property tax bill. The contractual assessments could not be used to finance the purchase or installation of appliances that are not permanently fixed to the real property.

Assembly Bill 811 helps California municipalities accomplish the goals outlined by Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.

The passage of AB 811 makes it more imperative to provide a energy efficiency community program. AB 811 states: “This act is an urgency statute…”.  Cities and counties can now: (1) Make energy-efficiency and renewable energy affordable for California citizens (2) Increase property values (3) Improve the efficiency and indoor air quality of residential & commercial properties (4) Reduce the burning of dirty fuels and hence, pollution (5) Lower greenhouse gas emissions (6) Empower constituents with the fiscal security of distributed energy.

California Assembly Bill No. 811