New solar battery program aims to lower costs for San Diego County residents

Solar installers place solar panels on the roof of a residential home in Scripps Ranch File photo by Mike Blake REUTERS San Diego District Power Wednesday reported a effort intended to make solar power more affordable for thousands of San Diego County residents while strengthening the region s power grid SDCP a not-for-profit society agency providing power to nearly a million customers in the county mentioned its new Solar Battery Savings plan is backed by nearly million over the next five years Particular of that funding is dedicated to provide extra financial assistance to purchase solar panels in historically underserved communities With the Solar Battery Savings scheme launching we are giving San Diegans more tools to cut vigor bills keep the lights on during outages and build a cleaner and more resilient grid commented County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer chair of the District Power board of directors This activity helps us build out our rooftop solar arrangement and creates lower bills for families cleaner air for our kids and good-paying jobs for local workers Specifically the scheme provides upfront rebates on panels as well as incentives for residential customers who install new solar-plus-storage systems or add batteries to their existing setups District Power will hold a series of customer training workshops about solar power and the activity Workshop details will be available at sdcommunitypower org Customer tuition is at the heart of this launch reported Colin Santulli SDCP s director of programs We want families across our region to understand how this effort can deliver savings and resilience and we are investing more support than ever to connect directly with our communities Wednesday s announcement is intended to build on a pilot undertaking with more than participants resulting in more than batteries installed across the region The long-term goal of the initiative is to deliver megawatt-hours of local battery maximum contributing to the agency s larger goal of megawatts of distributed potency tools by enough to power between and homes for a year depending on usage Additionally the agency s leaders hope the Solar Battery Savings scheme will help bolster local business The local solar industry has faced a tough stretch in current years with pressures coming from state and national framework shifts as well as changing global industry conditions explained Jake Marshall Greentech Renewables San Diego operations manager Neighborhood Power s Solar Battery Savings scheme was a bright spot last year for our industry and our communities This isn t just a campaign that benefits customers of Population Power this is a plan for San Diego solar and electrical contractors a local project for local workers