Tangerine Solar hits Airwaves on NPR

New Way To Promote Green Energy Would Show Up On Electric Bills

Tom Banse, NPR
02/22/2010

Millions of Northwest electricity customers have the option to pay a little bit extra on their monthly bills to support green energy. In the coming years, that voluntary option could take a back seat to a mandatory, but invisible charge on electric bills. Policymakers along the West Coast are working on a new green energy incentive. It relies not on tax dollars, as is traditional, but rather on ratepayer dollars. Correspondent Tom Banse reports on how it would work.

Solar developer Stanley Florek of Seattle’s Tangerine Solar says the fixed, premium purchase price gives suppliers certainty they’ll recover the high costs they pay upfront.

Florek: “You get that investment paid back with a modest return guaranteed on top. As a result, you may be foolish not to have a solar system or wind farm in your neighborhood because that property is sitting there not making money for your neighborhood.”

Full Story here: http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=19510

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