The AB-811 Symposium: Feb 9th
HelioPower
For more than 18 months now, California cities and counties have been empowered to offer residents and businesses a cost-effective way to install solar panels and otherenergy-saving measures, yet so far only two cities in the Inland Empirehave taken advantage of it – Palm Desert and Yucaipa.
If that’s because too few people understand the scope and powergranted them by the signing of Assembly Bill 811, they will now havethe opportunity to unravel the mysteries of this program and itspotential for their city. On Feb. 9, UC Riverside will host the AB-811 Symposium, featuring guest speakers from Inland Empire city and county governments, public utilities, solar and electrical contractors.
“The city of Riverside is committed to becoming a Clean and Greencity,” said Mayor Ron Loveridge, an early advocate of AB-811 and theopening speaker at the symposium. “Our goal is to increase ourrenewable energy sources, such as geothermal, hydro, wind and solar.”
HelioPower’sScott Gordon, Vice President of Residential Sales will join the rosterof industry experts. HelioPower has installed many projects in the PalmDesert and Inland Empire areas, including the design and installationof the first project under the Riverside Municipal commercial solar rebate program andcurrently works with other group buying programs. "The combination ofAB811 and private enterprise promises to make the dream of solarpossible for a much broader number of California property owners," saidGordon.
TheAB-811 Symposium will be held at the UC Riverside’s Highlander UnionBuilding from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9. The event cost of$35 includes lunch and parking. Although the event is open thepublic, it’s specifically aimed at county supervisors, mayors and citycouncil members, department heads, staff and private sector partners.
The major sponsor of the symposium is Southern California Gas Co.;additional sponsors are the Inland Empire Labor Management CooperationCommittee, Viewpoint Green, and the Inland Empire chapter of the U.S.Green Building Council.
“AB-811 is a fantastic tool,” said Marvin Hudson of Viewpoint Green,a division of Viewpoint Financial in Redlands. “It aids localgovernments in the fight for economic development by putting people towork and circulating dollars.”
AB-811 grants California communities the ability to allow certainloans to residents, be repaid through assessments that appear on theirproperty tax bills.
This idea, making solar more affordable, could result in cleaner energy, plus new jobs for solar installers.
The first step toward taking advantage of AB-811 is for a city orcounty to create an “contractual assessment district” within itsborders. The symposium will answer such questions as: How do you createyour own contractual assessment district? What components to include inyour program? How to fund your program? How might you administer yourprogram?
For more information or to register for AB-811 Symposium, contactthe Inland Empire Labor Management Cooperation Committee at (909)307-3400. USGBC members may attend at the discount price of $25.
HelioPower has been engineering solar power solutions for residential, commercial, community and utility scale partners since 2001. The company’s team of engineers and solar power professionals are passionate about excellence in all phases of a project, from customer communication and education to site analysis, design, system implementation and finally to performance monitoring. HelioPower has designed and installed over 1000 solar power systems in the Western States, and serves clients worldwide. The Helio Sustainable Energy Blog is our commitment to distribution helpful dedicated to information about saving energy and generating green electricity through solar power systems.