Press — Article
Don't Let the Sun Set on Solar Energy
SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE, August 9, 2002
San Diego is blessed with one of the most abundant solar resources in the nation. As a city, we are committed to taking advantage of this resource by investing in solar energy, which helps us build energy independence and reduce air pollution.
In 2001, Gov. Gray Davis signed a law in response to last year's energy crisis that allows owners of solar powered systems to receive credit for any excess power they put into the grid (called net metering). As a result of this law, the city of San Diego and other municipalities and businesses started ambitious plans for developing large-scale solar-powered systems.
Just as power independency is moving forward, SDG&E and its parent company, Sempra Energy — as well as other private state utilities — are trying to undermine the efforts by putting an end to net metering. The private utilities are trying to amend AB 58 which would extend the right to continue net metering large solar-powered systems beyond the one-year time frame of the original law by reducing net metering credits.
Passage of the new net metering bill is critical to the homeowners, taxpayers and the city of San Diego. It ensures that owners of solar-powered systems receive full value for the electricity that is produced, thereby making solar-powered systems economically feasible.
For the city of San Diego, net metering is the key in our pursuit of energy independence, one of the Mayor's 10 Goals for the City of San Diego. The more the city can become energy self-reliant, the more money taxpayers save.
Providing a model for other municipalities, the city of San Diego currently leads the region generating 15 megawatts of electricity through landfill gas and waste-water hydroelectric systems. We are in the process of installing a solar energy system on the city's Miramar Operations Center and the Ridgehaven Building — the first building in the nation to receive the Energy Star designation.
The city of San Diego also is exploring strategies to install large-scale solar arrays on old landfills to turn unproductive brownfields into clean power-producing "brightfields." Since 1999, the number of solar energy systems installed in our region has increased from 11 to nearly 600, and more large-scale systems are on the way.
Unfortunately, SDG&E has used its influence in a way that could undermine California's solar power market. This is unfortunate because solar energy offers many benefits to the region. It reduces air pollution, minimizes unsightly and costly power plants, and allows the city to generate its own electricity. Further, installing solar panels on rooftops can help increase the reliability of our region's electric system by diversifying our power supply. Most importantly, solar technologies transform sunshine into electricity during the day when we need energy the most, when it is the most expensive and when our grid is experiencing the greatest stress.
We are dismayed to think that deregulation only pertains to price caps, while clean, renewable energy generation is being over-regulated. Net metering is the most effective market-based tool for achieving energy independence and it must not be limited by the utilities for their own financial gain.
The Legislature should keep strong net metering laws in place by continuing full retail cost credit for power generated and removing the extra requirements for larger-system net metering added in the latest amendments. Harnessing San Diego's abundant sunshine will help us increase the amount of power we can supply locally in order to achieve energy independence for San Diego. It is time for the state to let solar power shine.
Murphy is mayor of San Diego. Frye is a member of the San Diego City Council.