Late last night, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed two major solar initiatives involving a feed-in tariff for utility companies and surplus electricity generated by customers.

It was the last day to sign bills from this year’s legislative session.

AB 920 requires utility companies to pay households or businesses for any extra electricity produced by the customer’s solar power system. Supporters said the bill would encourage customers, who previously had no incentive to use less electricity than was generated, to be more efficient.

SB 32 expands the feed-in tariff program for large-scale solar facilities from 1.5 megawatts to 3 megawatts, potentially pushing utilities to construct massive solar installations on unused spaces like parking lots and warehouse roofs.

Read more here.

-- Tiffany Hsu