Last Friday, SunRun Vice President of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Holly Gordon, spoke at Colorado governor Bill Ritter’s final bill signing ceremony. She spoke on the governor’s renewable energy efforts over the past 3 1/2 years, as well as House Bill 1267, one of the five bills signed on Friday. With 5 Democratic and 4 Republican co-sponsors, HB 1267 is a bipartisan bill that will promote the growth of home solar power in Colorado. With the passing of this bill, third-party providers, such as SunRun, will be able to quickly expand their partnerships with local companies, such as Namaste Solar, REC Solar, and Real Goods Solar.
House Bill 1267, as well as the other four bills the Governor signed on Friday, represent one of the strongest commitments to renewable energy and job creation in the nation. Governor Ritter is one of the most forward thinking governors, in terms of clean energy, and since he’s taken office in 2007, he has signed 57 clean energy bills. A few months ago, the governor signed House Bill 1001 – a landmark RPS (renewable portfolio standard) bill that mandated that utilities draw 30% of their energy form renewable energy sources by 2020. Colorado now has the nation’s highest renewable energy standard and will have 100,000 solar roofs by 2020.
It was due to the strong support of Governor Ritter and his administration that SunRun came to Colorado in 2009. SunRun removes the major barrier to solar for most homeowners by offering a solar lease, which allows them to get home solar panels for as low as $0. Since SunRun entered Colorado, we’ve allowed hundreds of homeowners to go solar and have created clean, green local jobs, in return. A recent industry study estimates that every 6 home solar installations creates 1 new job in the United States, or every 10 home solar installations creates 1 new, local job. ”The benefits of those jobs trickle down to businesses in local communities when new companies buy new products,” Holly told an Associated Press reporter at the governor’s conference. Check out the video below to watch Holly’s speech.
We here at SunRun are proud to be doing business in Colorado and working with Governor Ritter and his administration. It was an honor to be asked to participate at this event. Many thanks to the Governor and his administration for their strong support for House Bill 1267 and commitment to a New Energy Economy.
