The move essentially revives the state’s Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP), which has been cash-strapped in recent years. It provides rebates for solar installations at commercial, industrial, non-profit, government and other non-residential sites.
Brown’s approval extends the program’s funding through 2014.
Since it began in 2001, the SGIP program has made over $619 million in rebates for the installation of 348 MW of solar capacity.
Brown, who was also governor of California in the 1970s, when California first embraced power from the sun also signed two additional bills intended to help the solar sector this week.
“The bills I signed today are part of a solar energy revolution that is sweeping our state,” Brown said in a prepared statement. “These bills will help create jobs, lower electric bills and clean up the air we breathe.”
The first of the two other bills signed into law requires the California Department of Fish and Game to expedite their permitting process for renewable energy projects. It also gives developers the option to pay a fee to expedite government review, a solution the governor said balances a responsible review of proposed projects with a timely approach to the process.
The final of the three bills dedicates funding to help school districts to finance solar installations at local schools.
The legislative package is intended to help meet the state’s goal of getting 20,000 megawatts (MW) from renewable sources by 2020.
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