El Phoenix Sun

Solar California

If you live in California — or know someone who does — this message is for you.

States have been called the laboratories of democracy. Programs that might be great often need to prove themselves locally, before being adopted on a national level. They need a track record. For decades, California has frequently been the nation’s environmental laboratory. The Clean Air Act, to name just one example, was born in LA.

Solar California

The Golden State has been a pioneer in developing solar policies to power the nation with clean, renewable energy. One of the most successful programs to speed adoption of solar in California is net metering. It’s a simple, but potent, idea. It allows people with solar systems to be credited for the excess electricity they produce and send back to the grid.

But there’s a catch: net metering has a cap. Once net metered customers supply 2.5% of utility peak load, new solar systems owners aren’t compensated for excess electricity.

AB 510: Raising the cap

Now, there’s a bill pending in the California Senate to raise the cap on net metering to 5% and help keep solar growing: AB 510.

The California-based Vote Solar Initiative has created a Web page that makes it easy for California residents to sign a petition online and have it sent immediately to their Senator.

If you’re a California resident, it only takes two minutes to support clean, renewable energy. All you have to do, is go here and sign in.

Please do it right away. Don’t let the sun set on solar power and the green jobs that come from it.

GE 2.5 MW wind turbines in Germany

If work goes according to plan, 338 new wind turbines will be producing as much 845 MW of electricity in north-central Oregon by 2012. The “Shepherds Flat” wind farm will be spread across 30 square miles in north-central Oregon, approximately 120 miles due west of Portland.

This is the first time the GE-made 2.5xl turbines will be used in the US, but 100 of the large turbines (rotor blades are 100 meters long — about 330 feet) have already logged over a million hours of energy production in in Europe and Asia. The wind farm will be owned by New York-based Caithness Energy with the power generated supplying electricity to Southern California Energy customers.

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Gov. Schwarzenegger at 2008 Climate Summit

Owners of medium-sized commercial solar generators will be paid a premium for any extra power they send into the grid under two new laws signed on Sunday by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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