12-17-10 BPU RPT 12 - Laserfiche WebLink

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+ '• 1 f 4 Y l l f RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES Board Memorandum R U B L I C UTILITIES BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES DATE: December 17, 2010 ITEM NO: 12 SUBJECT: SOLAR REBATE PROGRAM UPDATE -2010 ISSUE: That the Board of Public Utilities receive an update on the solar rebate programs and reaffirm that the City Council authorize the General Manager to suspend the solar rebate program when funding for the fiscal year is depleted. RECOMMENDATIONS: That the Board of Public Utilities recommend that the City Council: 1. Authorize the Public Utilities General Manager to suspend the solar rebate program when funding is depleted until future fiscal years; and 2. Direct staff to review program participation and interest rate levels and return to the City Council in 90 days if changes are warranted to the solar rebate levels for the FY 2011-12. BACKGROUND: 2006 Senate Bill (SB) 1, developed as part of Governor Schwarzenegger's "Million Solar Roofs Initiative", builds on the California Public Utilities Commission's (CPUC) California Solar Initiative (CSI) program, the Energy Commission's New Solar Homes Partnership (NSHP), and existing publicly owned utility solar energy system incentive programs. SB 1 directs expenditures of approximately $3.4 billion by 2017 with a goal to install solar energy systems with a generation capacity equivalent of 3,000 megawatts statewide. Riverside Public Utilities' (RPU) required portion of that funding, as a percentage of sales, totals $25 million over ten years. The intent of the legislation is to establish a self-sufficient solar industry so that in ten years, solar energy systems are a viable mainstream option for homes and commercial buildings, and to put solar energy systems on 50 percent of new homes in 13 years. The State of Califomia and the Califomia Energy Commission (CEC) classifies solar energy produced under SB 1 as a power generation asset and does not allow utilities to take credit for this solar energy created towards any state mandated energy efficiency goals. At the State of the City address in January 2007, Mayor Ronald Loveridge proclaimed that Riverside would be known as a Model Solar City. On February 6, 2007, the City Council concurred with the Mayor and adopted the Sustainable Riverside Policy Statement presented by the Clean and Green Task Force. The Task Force's report emphasized how the City could implement cleaner greener and more sustainable policies including the city goal to "Make it Solar". Furthermore, the goal of becoming a Model Solar City meets many of the action items in the Clean and Green Sustainable Riverside Action Plan adopted by the City Council on December 18, 2007. RPU has offered residential solar rebates since 2004. In order to further these solar initiatives, in January 2008, the City Council also approved the addition of a solar rebate program for commercial customers. As part of RPU's Environmental and Economic Effectiveness Effort (E-4), the City Council approved $2 million in funding through FY 2011112 for residential solar projects and increased the residential solar rebate from $3.00 per Watt to $4.00 per Watt in order to encourage greater residential