Nathan Nayman
2007-03-13 10:00:00.0
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SAN FRANCISCO -

Mayor Gavin Newsom, in his recent announcement citing his desire to expand San Francisco’s solar and renewable energy resources through public-private partnerships, is a welcome breath of fresh air in a local political environment that continually berates the private sector and its ability to make our city a better place for all of us.

Speaking at the recent Cleantech Forum, the mayor proposed a plan that invites the nation’s most innovative renewable energy companies to partner with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to facilitate and support the development of large-scale solar and other renewable energy resources on public and private property in The City. Some of those innovative energy companies are right here in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Said Mayor Newsom: “Our plan challenges the best and the brightest in the renewable energy field to join us in making San Francisco a laboratory for solar power and clean energy development.” Through this plan San Franciscans will benefit by a competitive model that rewards innovation and the organizations that thrive on it rather than public sector monopolies that stifle it.

By issuing a Request for Information to private and public sector businesses and organizations to solicit information, advice and analyses on opportunities to finance and develop solar and other renewable energy resource projects in San Francisco, the mayor has taken a step to assure that residents get what they deserve: a dollar’s worth of services for every dollar spent. Rather than relying on those who have taken The City to its current upper limit of innovation, and yet claim they can do more on their own, he is reaching out and attempting to excite those who flourish by these challenges. He sees beyond typical politicians who would have government retain control on all facets of services and pursue a policy of operating all public services — regardless of cost to taxpayers.

Expect an uproar from those entrenched interests that are threatened by change or reform. The classic difficulty of any reform process is to withstand the interests of a few in lieu of the many. Over 500 years ago, Machiavelli wrote: “[T]here is no more delicate matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous in conduct, nor more doubtful in its success, than to set up as a leader in the introduction of changes. For he who innovates will have for enemies all those who are well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new.”

Opportunities and challenges outlined for respondents to the RFI and potential partners in the plan include:

» Partnering with the SFPUC (we hope they are open to true partnerships) to facilitate the development of large amounts of solar power, including nearly 24 megawatts of photovoltaics on private property within The City, leveraging the provisions of California’s Million Solar Roofs Law (SB1), the California Solar Initiative, federal tax incentives and other available financing mechanisms. Currently, less than one megawatt of photovoltaics exists on private property in San Francisco.

» Examining the SFPUC’s solar capacity estimates (again, we hope they are open to this inquiry), proposing estimates for other technologies and suggesting alternate estimates if knowledge of the market opportunities and deal structures support different estimates.

Roger Douglas of Britain’s Labor Party in the early 1980s transformed some of his nation’s public bureaucracies. In doing so, he said, “Do not try to advance one step at a time. Define your objectives clearly and move toward them by a quantum leap. Otherwise the interest groups will have the time to mobilize and drag you down.”

Political leaders must have the courage to stand up to those who impede change. Stakeholders such as businesses small and large, as well as neighborhood-based community groups, can help. The support of those who will benefit the most is also required. San Francisco residents should not accept less.

Nathan Nayman is executive director of the Committee on Jobs.

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