The California state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on Thursday approved and established the California Solar Initiative Thermal Program to the tune of $250 million to replace natural-gas powered water heaters, with $25 million set aside for low income customers. An additional $100 million will be used to swap out water heaters powered by electricity.

The cost of solar water heaters in California could drop by 15% – 25% when customers combine a 30% federal tax credit with the rebates from the state. Utilities participating in the program include Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas Co., Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric.

Analysts estimate the new systems that come online could replace 585 million therms of natural gas, or the equivalent of placing a solar water heater in 200,000 single family homes. The systems could also replace 275 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year.

Companies that install solar water heaters were ecstatic over the decision given what many called a “dismal year” for their industry in 2009. An advocacy group called Environment California estimated the incentives could create more than 3,000 new jobs as installers see increased demand and bring back furloughed workers to meet the new demand.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a great program both for the environment and for the areas unemployed population. However, I thought California was broke since the government has been going through a brutal budget battle in trying to cut expenses and close one of the largest budget gaps in the state’s history. Seems like the rainy day fund was larger than legislators let on.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under In The News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.