Berkeley, CA, USA: Mayor Proposes Solar Financing Plan

[jpak]

http://www.solarbuzz.com/News/NewsNAGO337.htm

Berkeley is set to become the first city in the nation to allow property owners to pay for energy efficiency improvements and solar system installation as a long-term assessment on their individual property tax bill. Mayor Tom Bates will ask the City Council to approve the framework for a “Sustainable Energy Financing District” at their November 6th Council meeting. The program could begin operating next year.

Installations of solar electric and solar thermal systems are cost effective for many residential and commercial property owners with the existing state and federal subsidies. The Berkeley Plan eliminates the two major financial hurdles to solar electric and solar water systems – the high upfront cost and the possibility that those costs will not be recovered when the property is sold.

“Nearly every expert we have worked with on this financing initiative believes it can fundamentally change the market for solar,” said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. “There are more than 400 solar installations in Berkeley today. With this program, I think we can install thousands of solar systems over the next decade and go a long way to meeting our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets."

"Berkeley’s proposal is brilliant because it removes the number one roadblock to solar, the high up front costs. It also allows property owners to take advantage of the City’s ability to find the best rates,” said UC Berkeley Professor Dan Kammen, who directs the University’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory and will be assisting the City in developing the program. “If Berkeley makes this work, I have no doubt it will be replicated all over the state and the nation.”

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