California Governor Makes Solar Power More Affordable

Governor Jerry Brown is giving a $100 million subsidy for affordable housing to help decrease green house emissions.

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(TNS) -- Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill by Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, to make solar power more practical for low-income renters in California.

Assembly Bill 693 dedicates $100 million per year in carbon cap and trade revenue to place solar panels atop apartment buildings or other multifamily housing units.

Eggman said this week that she sees the bill as a way to give tenants access to renewable energy technology that they’ve largely been unable to afford.

“All of our climate change efforts are incredibly laudable, but if we can’t provide access to this new green world to everyone, then I don’t think we’ve really achieved our goal,” Eggman said.

The money comes from fees paid by polluters. Those fees have funded pollution prevention programs across the state, but some of the money has also been returned to utility ratepayers. The $100 million per year for solar under Eggman’s legislation is expected to slightly decrease those payments to ratepayers.

Money will be awarded for solar power projects starting the next fiscal year, after July 1, 2016.

©2015 The Record (Stockton, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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