One thing New York has lots of is roofs, and for many of them, not much happens on them. That could all be about to change.
The State has just passed legislation that will update its net metering standard, from the tiny and almost insignificant 10 kilo Watt cap for solar installations, limited to residential only, up to a gold-standard 2 Mega Watt, available to all customer classes. It is expected that this will have a critical impact on opening the market for large scale solar installations in New York, and is viewed as a significant step towards building a major solar market in the Big Apple. (Net metering allows a customer’s electricity meter to “spin backwards,” providing a credit on their utility bill when their on-site renewable energy systems send unused power to the grid.)
In addition to this move, on June 17th, the NY State Legislature passed a bill to provide a 35% property tax abatement for solar installed in New York City, an idea born out of Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC. Further info can be found here.
And not to be left out, across the country in environmentally aware San Francisco, the cities Board of Supervisors has approved a 10 year $3 million incentive program that will help put upwards of 55 Mega Watts on 10,000 roofs. This will help put San Francisco on a path to greater energy independence, and lower carbon emissions. The idea came from City Assessor Phil Ting's Solar Task Force.
These types of initiatives are championed, supported and lobbied by Vote Solar , a grassroots organisation founded out of a successful effort to put solar on public buildings in San Francisco. Check their website at Vote Solar or subscribe to their newsletter here. The groups next step? Making good on the Renewable Energy Task Force's goal of 100 MW of solar by 2011, and the larger goal of 2000 MW by 2020 (pdf) as detailed in New York's Solar Roadmap - A plan for energy reliability, security, environmental responsibility and economic development in New York State. Looks as though the opening of the Vote Solar New York office was most timely.
Meanwhile, in the land downunder, where they have sunshine to spare, you'd think that we would be telling you of how Australians are continuing to lead the world with their solar technology through research and development, and how the provision of subsidies for home owners prepared to lead the way in the community on this front is having a dramatic impact.
Unfortunately, that's not the case.
The recently elected Government, who won office with a strong environmental message based on tackling climate change, has stunned many by placing a means test on the subsidy it provides for domestic solar installations. What is so surprising is that this subsidy has a direct benefit to the whole community at large, regardless of the incomes of the households concerned.
Even though the change in subsidy was buried in the fine print of the May Budget papers, the issue has now come to light and is causing some embarrassment for the Rudd Government as in the lead-up to the recent November election, the now Prime Minister was a champion of the solar industry.
James Woodford, one of the Australia's leading environmental reporters said it best in his Sydney Morning Herald piece, "Solar power, installers fear, will not be available, full-stop, to anyone except the most ideological of sustainable energy enthusiasts. And that is a very sad outcome because there is a lot more to living in a solar-powered house than economics. It is also about instilling in children that there is a more sustainable way of living and generating power. It is about taking some responsibility for a family’s own resources. But if you are in a house where the combined income is $100,001, it is unlikely that solar will now be a realistic choice pitted against mortgages, fuel and groceries."
A full copy of the article is available on James' website Real Dirt, which features stories, interviews and links to relevant environmental issues. I suggest you check it out here.
Photo credits - New York lights raindance Coastal solar panels reuvenim
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