HOW TO DRIVE LA SUN

Returning Power to the People: LA Business Council Report Sheds Light on Cost-Effective Approach to Solar Energy Generation
April 5, 2010 (Business Wire via Earth Times)

"…[T]he Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) and the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation…issued a comprehensive study examining the potential for solar Feed-in Tariff (FiT) programs in Los Angeles County. A FiT program would allow businesses and residents to install solar panels on their roofs and parking lots and sell the power generated [per kilowatt-hour] back to the local utility…

"Relying on advanced economic modeling and interviews with businesses and residents in Los Angeles County, the study finds that regional FiT programs would unleash a new source of cost-effective solar energy and spur significant economic growth. The study calls for the City of Los Angeles to create the largest FiT program in America, adopting a policy that would generate 500 megawatts of electricity within ten years. This program would meet three percent of the city’s energy needs, create more than 11,000 local green jobs and produce long-term cost-savings for businesses, ratepayers and the LADWP."

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"The study’s release comes as Los Angeles’ Mayor, City Council, and DWP Commission remain embroiled in an ongoing debate over rate hikes at the LADWP, which would be used in part to pay for new conservation and renewable energy programs. At an approximate annual cost of $23 million, the proposed FiT program could be created without raising rates at the LADWP…

"...Among the range of alternatives to move the LADWP off of fossil fuels that policymakers are considering, a FiT program would offer the significant benefit of creating thousands of high-wage private sector jobs to install, maintain, repair, assemble and manufacture solar panels inside the Los Angeles basin…"

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"Businesses could leverage federal tax credits to cover approximately 40 percent of the costs of installing solar panels on their property and would ultimately recoup these costs over the life of the FiT contract, plus a rate of return of five to eight percent…Utilities would benefit from the decreased cost of electrical transmission and gain access to a reliable source of [quickly available] solar power…[A] FiT program would save money for utilities over the long-term by eventually producing energy at less cost than other sources of power…

"FiT programs have been successfully implemented in other regions to build robust green economies and meet renewable goals. Gainesville, Florida adopted a hugely popular FiT program in March 2009…[that] met its first-year participation goals within one week…Germany has used a nationwide FiT program to create [more than 100,000 jobs and] the world’s largest solar market despite the country’s marginal sunlight…"