FIT Coalition – SB 32 support

Thanks for your continued support of the FIT Coalition! We especiallyappreciate everyone who responded to the last update with helpfulsuggestions.

Today we sent the attached formal letter of support for SB 32 to theGovernor and we’re encouraging all of you to fax in your own lettersas soon as possible. The signature deadline is this Sunday, October11th and the Governor’s Sacramento fax number is 916-558-3160.

Those of you who have been with us for a while know that the decisionto support SB 32 was not taken lightly. We all agree that AB 1106 isa far superior bill that will create the true renewable energy boomthat California needs. And there’s no question that we’ll be pushingAB 1106 with all our strength as early as possible.

But when AB 1106 was turned in to a 2-year bill, the question became:What can we get done *this year* to improve the policy environment forrenewable energy deployment?

SB 32 does not fix the most important issue with the current FIT-likeprogram in California: the price. But the bill does make certain keyimprovements, and once those are in the law, there is less heavylifting for AB 1106 to do later.

Here are the changes we consider important:

• Increases the project size to 3MW
• Applies to the publicly-owned utilities, not just the IOUs
• Removes requirement that a power producer needs to be a customer
• Establishes the concept of locational preferences and value based on circuit demand and system capacity

Finally, for those who were following earlier versions of SB 32, the“poison pill” provisions that had been included by FIT-opponents wereremoved before the Assembly vote. This eliminated some of the bill’spotentially damaging effects.

So, in the end, we decided that SB 32 is a positive step forward thatwe should support. We encourage you to add your voice of support alsoin the next day or two to help make these changes happen.

Thanks again for your support and feel free to contact us anytime withquestions or to find out how you can help in the coming months!

Ted Ko
Associate Executive Director
FIT Coalition

SB32 support letter to Governor.doc