Republican Sen. Shawn Mitchell said Wednesday he welcomes the Ritter administration's renewed focus on solar-energy development, but he cautioned policy makers against relying on new mandates--rather than removing regulatory barriers--to boost renewable-energy development.
Mitchell made headlines last year with a bill he carried into law capping the fees local governments are allowed to charge homeowners and business owners before they can install solar systems.
Prompted by Gov. Bill Ritter's plan--announced in his State of the State speech last week--to force homebuilders to either install solar panels on homes or pre-wire them for the panels, Mitchell said there are better ways to bolster renewable energy development. For starters, Mitchell said, policy makers should strive to incentivize private businesses through tax and fee rebates or rollbacks.
"Whether it is sun, wind, nuclear or any other source of renewable energy--not to mention a clean, efficient power source such as natural gas--we need to look at removing government barriers rather than imposing mandates to encourage responsible energy development," Mitchell said.
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Mitchell pointed to his bipartisan bill signed into law by Ritter last year, which limited sometimes-exorbitant permit fees charged by some cities for solar-system installations on homes and businesses. The new law caps what cities and counties charge for solar-panel permitting fees at $300. Before the law, some local governments charged as high as $2,500 in permit fees for a single home.
"The bill I carried is an example of how you can get government out of the way of renewable energy expansion," Mitchell said. "This should be the template for expanding the use of renewables."
Mtichell's bill also won the praise of Blake Jones, President of Namaste Solar Electric, one of the state’s largest solar installers. Jones said the bill plays an important role in increasing the use of solar power statewide and in building the infrastructure needed to harness and transmit the sun's energy.
"We've definitely seen a noticeable and positive impact, no doubt about it," Jones said. "It's a prime example of how we can build infrastructure, bring prices down and require less subsidies to improve that infrastructure."