City of Indio considers new residential solar program

The City of Indio is considering new residential solar program that would expand their electrical grid.

Indio city officials, in partnership with IID and Sunline, are working on a program that would allow the city to install solar panels on the rooftops of participating Indio residents and business owners.

The proposed project promises to reduce carbon emissions, boost the electrical grid to keep up with the state's power demands over the next 10 years and expand access to solar energy to those who normally would not be able to afford it.

According to Indio city councilmember, Oscar Ortiz, who has been leading this initiative, those who would allow the city to install solar panels on their rooftops could see a reduction to their monthly power bill.

“We know that one of the biggest barriers for our community is the loans that people have to take to get the solar panels. And so in this program, one of the new things about it is this will take the loan off of the resident. And so the city would own the solar panels and do the maintenance on solar panels or whatever entity we would build, right, with the, with the power company…it seems to be that solar energy will be the more affordable way to produce energy in the near future. And so we want to be ready for that," said Ortiz.

Currently, the City of Indio and their partners are working to secure $260,000 dollars of funding for the project from the California Energy Commission for a study that would calculate the financial feasibility of the program.

The funding would also be used to explore the possibility of including other East valley cities and Imperial County in the program as well.

Stay with News Channel 3 as we continue to track this developing story.