San Francisco has reopened its solar incentive program for the 2010-11 fiscal year, according to Brighter Energy. Made possible by local city and county governments, the GoSolarSF program provides solar rebates to San Francisco residents and business owners who install solar qualifying solar energy systems. Until an announcement last week by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, it wasn’t clear that funding would be made available for the program.
“GoSolarSF has more than doubled the number of solar installations in our City and created dozens of jobs,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom. “This program is literally transforming how our homes and businesses generate and consume electricity rooftop by rooftop.”
And here’s more from Brighter Energy:
Any resident or business in San Francisco that is on a meter and pays an electricity bill is eligible for the GoSolarSF incentive, so long as they work with an installer participating in the city’s Workforce Development Program, or alternatively a non-profit installer.
This year, extra incentives will be available for projects installed by companies that have their principal place of business within San Francisco itself.
- Newsom making the announcement on July 1
SF residents and businesses interested in solar power should consider themselves lucky: they live in one of the few places in America where local solar rebates are available in addition to a state- or utility-sponsored rebate. On top of this, there’s the 30-percent solar tax credit, which is available to all U.S. homeowners and businesses. Taken together, these incentives can reduce considerably the cost of installing solar panels in San Francisco.
Since its launch in July 2008, the GoSolarSF program has disbursed some $10 million, supporting the completion of nearly 1,200 San Francisco solar installations.
The California Jobs Initiative (CJI) is an oil corporation farce and fraud. There is no connection, whatsoever, between greenhouse gas emission reduction and the loss of jobs. This notion is an insult to the intelligence of the people of California. In fact, there is growth in the clean, renewable energy industry. Chevron employs 65,000 worldwide and CJI is not going to change this. The only jobs created by the oil industry are clean-up jobs, after oil spills and deep water, blow-outs and pump-handler jobs. CJI will make fantastic profits for the oil industry, increase air pollution, especially around their refineries, and there will not be lower gas prices.