Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Go Solar Integration topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
SFPUC votes to align GoSolar SF with Clean Power SF, sends ordinance amendment to Board of Supervisors
Summary
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission approved amendments to Chapter 18 of the Environment Code to integrate GoSolar SF with Clean Power SF, tighten low-income and environmental-justice parameters, reduce incentives to reflect falling solar costs and authorize new distributed-energy programs; the measure advances to the Board of Supervisors.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission voted to advance an ordinance to the Board of Supervisors that integrates the city’s GoSolar SF incentives with Clean Power SF and Hetch Hetchy Power, revises low-income and environmental-justice incentive parameters, and allows additional distributed-energy programs such as inverter replacement, storage and electric-vehicle measures.
Assistant General Manager for Power Barbara Hale explained the changes as a package intended to reflect the lower cost of solar, extend available program dollars and ensure that recipients of GoSolar SF incentives are customers of either Clean Power SF or Hetch Hetchy Power. She said the amendment would be further refined during the legislative process at the Board of Supervisors.
Public commenters urged balance and inclusion. Eric Brooks of San Francisco Clean Energy Advocates and Our City said the program should not fully exclude customers who are not yet in Clean Power SF — for example nonprofits and low-income customers still outside the community-choice aggregation rollout — and recommended simultaneously expanding incentives for energy efficiency and battery storage to accelerate clean-energy adoption.
Jason Freidt, executive officer for LAFCO, supported the integration but urged SFPUC staff to consider broadening incentives and not to cut out publicly owned utility (POU) customers, suggesting parallel programs for storage and efficiency.
Commissioners also discussed workforce development and community benefits tied to new distributed-energy work, with one commissioner urging explicit apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship and hiring pathways be tied to program expansions. Staff said existing hiring partnerships (including with the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development) would be considered as program details are implemented.
The commission moved, seconded and approved the item on a voice vote. The approved action authorizes the general manager to submit the ordinance amending Chapter 18 of the Environment Code to the Board of Supervisors for consideration.
