Los Angeles Goes All In on Rooftop Solar
Panels
Don’t think it’s possible to provide clean and renewable energy that creates jobs and fuels private investment? Think again and then check out CLEAN LA Solar.
A program developed and
supported by the Los Angeles Business Council, a coalition of environmental,
business, health and research organizations, and the CLEAN LA Coalition, it’s
the largest urban rooftop solar program in the nation.
Its five-year goal is to
power more than 34,000 homes while creating some 4,500 construction,
installation, design engineering, maintenance and administrative jobs in Los
Angeles.
CLEAN LA Solar allows businesses and commercial property-owners to generate energy for the city’s power grid through rooftop solar panels, and then sell the power to the Department of Water and Power (DWP). This policy is known as a feed-in-tariff (FiT), and is a great way to promote clean, solar energy.
California has a
legislative requirement to generate 33 percent of its energy from renewable
sources by 2020. Currently, most of L.A.’s renewable power is generated outside
the L.A. basin and transmitted inefficiently to customers.
By contrast, the
CLEAN LA Solar program will provide incentives for clean-energy production
within city limits. The result will be more efficient power delivery and a
reduction in the city’s reliance on polluting, coal-fired power plants. The FiT
also does not require new or upgraded transmission lines.
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