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Solar Panel Use Flares Up on Peninsula

Posted on: Thursday, 29 December 2005, 09:00 CST

By Julia Scott, STAFF WRITER

GLADWYN D'Souza installed solar panels on his Belmont home in 2004 as a cost-cutting measure. A year later, his electricity bills have dropped to $6 a month -- the basic PG&E connection fee.

A record number of solar panels were installed in San Mateo County last year: 159 projects, more than a third of the systems installed here to date. In spite of its increasing popularity, however, going solar is still not a possibility for many households.

Frank Moriconi, sales manager with Bay Solar Panel Design in Pacifica, said that while interest in solar panels is high, the price of materials has also increased. The cost of a typical residential solar panel system can range from $20,000 to $25,000 after state and federal rebates, he said.

"The cost of the system is the reason that people don't do it. It's not because they don't want to do it."

Incentives

Photovoltaic panels convert radiant energy from the sun into electricity. When the system produces a surplus of energy, it goes back into the grid for others to use.

State incentives, like the California Energy Commission's Emerging Renewables Program for residences and the California Public Utilities Commission's Self-Generation Incentive Program for businesses, were created to offset the prohibitive costs of going solar. A number of federal rebates are available as well, especially for companies.

The rebates, along with the potential for long-term savings, made solar power affordable for Liz Merry, president of Northern California Solar Energy Association.

"I'm probably saving $800 to

$1,000 a year on my electricity. That's going to go up as rates go up," she said.

Merry predicted that more homeowners would eventually follow suit.

Earlier this month, the CPUC proposed an 11-year, $3.2 billion solar incentive program that would award users a $2.80-per-watt rebate in 2007. The rebate will shrink as the price for equipment and installation decreases over the years.

"They're sending a signal to solar industries around the world that California is prepared to invest in this," Merry said.

And it's about time, too, she said.

"Our energy in California is 0.3 percent solar electric," Merry said. "That's about 14,000 systems since2000 -- not very much for a state that has so much sun. We should be up to 100,000 systems."

Permit costs

Another obstacle to mainstream solar-energy use is the high cost of city permits. Cities must inspect and approve solar panels, and a recent survey conducted by the Loma Prieta Sierra Club revealed that some cities charge in excess of $1,000 for the service.

Surveyors called 40 towns in San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Benito counties to ask how much they charge for a residential solar- panel system generating three kilowatts, at a price of $27,000 before rebates.

The fees varied from $50 in Portola Valley to $1,620 in Millbrae.

The average permit fee was $652.

Many solar-friendly cities had streamlined their permitting, while others imposed a lengthy process.

Moriconi said that his company waited up to six weeks for a permit from cities such as Millbrae and Hillsborough.

"Those were towns we had a lot of problems with," he said.

Millbrae City Manager Ralph Jaeck said he had met with the Sierra Club following its report. Jaeck said the city's solar-panel permit fee was $1,180, not $1,620 as the survey stated.

"We are not a wealthy city. We have to recover costs, and if we did what Los Altos did, people who pay other permit fees would have to make up for it," he said.

Earlier this month, the Los Altos Hills City Council voted to eliminate its permit fee entirely.

Following the Sierra Club's report, San Mateo city building staff proposed that its fee be reduced from $1,167 to $218.

The City Council will consider the change early next year.

D'Souza, a board member of Sustainable San Mateo, said that the city of Belmont had complicated the process of installing solar panels on his home.

"The permitting fee was really high, about $400, and it took six weeks to be approved."

He said that Belmont ought to encourage renewable energy use as a practical matter.

"It's in the public good for more houses to produce power. Most cities have problems with the power they consume -- it's a big issue."

Staff writer Julia Scott covers the environment, North County and the Coast. She can be reached

at (650) 348-4340 or at jscott@sanmateocountytimes.com.

Source: Oakland Tribune

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