Progress!

Hey California! More of us can now go solar affordably. Thanks to Assembly Nancy Skinner (Berkely), California can now double the number of people who can invest in a rooftop solar system. AB 510, lifting the cap on net metering, was just signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger on February 26th. The policy was a critical piece of meeting California's Million Solar Roofs goal set in motion by Environment California-sponsored SB 1 law back in 2006. Watch the signing ceremony.

In addition, Assembly member Jared Huffman authored another important solar power bill, AB 920, last year. Thanks to this bill, also signed into law by the governor, instead of you writing a check to your utility company, your utility company to pay you.

That’s right. Starting in 2011, your utility company will have to write you a check at the end of the year for any electricity your solar system generated in surplus of what your home used during that same year. It is called surplus net metering and it is one more step toward making California the Saudia Arabia of the sun.  For more information on AB 920, click here.