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SFPUC hears industry briefing on solar costs and financing; experts urge pilot projects and new local funding
Summary
Industry panelists told the commission that San Francisco has installed under 1 MW to date, cited financing and rebate changes (SB1) that complicate local deployment, and urged a mix of on‑site pilots, third‑party PPAs and a local public‑goods surcharge to scale city solar deployment.
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission commissioners heard a public renewable‑energy panel at about 15:30 that featured industry and finance experts who outlined technical, financing and policy approaches to scale solar across city‑owned assets.
David Hochschild (PV Now) framed the city's challenge, saying, "We have less than a megawatt installed right now," and noted the Energy Action Plan target of 16 MW by February 2008 would not be met without new measures. Hochschild warned that recent state policy changes (SB1) limit access to some incentive funds and encouraged the commission to consider a local public‑goods surcharge to ensure stable, predictable support for solar and efficiency programs.
Andrew Beebe (Energy Innovations) emphasized the benefits of doing practical projects quickly — from rooftop and parking‑structure installs to medium‑scale on‑site systems — and pointed to large commercial projects (he described Google's corporate campus installation as "the largest commercial installation in US history") as examples of scale and market demand. Financing advisers including Neil Deichman and MMA Capital's Paul Danielson outlined how third‑party power purchase agreements and tax‑equity structures can be used to bring projects online for public and private hosts that cannot use tax incentives directly.
Panelists gave widely varying levelized cost estimates depending on rebates, site yield and cost of capital: with available rebates and favorable financing some private PPAs can reach the mid‑teens ¢/kWh, while projects without local rebates and using higher private cost of capital can be much more expensive up front. Panelists recommended starting with low‑friction, on‑site pilot projects (schools, municipal garages, airport roofs) and exploring PPA approaches and local surcharges to create a predictable funding stream and establish market scale.
Public commenters from the Bayview neighborhood urged the commission to adopt a green public power community plan to bring solar to environmental justice communities, citing health impacts from local pollution.
The panel did not produce a vote; commissioners asked staff to pursue deeper analysis, return with timelines and identify targets of opportunity that can be advanced quickly.
