Clint Eastwood wants Gov. Gray Davis to make his day by promoting solar energy as the answer to California's power crisis.
Eastwood's Tehama Golf and Country Club has 242 photovoltaic panels powering everything from the clubhouse to the golf carts. The system produces 32 kilowatt hours a day, and Eastwood sends thousands of surplus kilowatt hours to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. each year, but so far he's never received financial credit.
A bill working its way through the Legislature would change that, allowing schools, nonprofit organizations and businesses like Eastwood's to receive credit for the wind and solar energy they have added to the state's power grid.
Eastwood visited Davis' office recently to endorse the bill.
"Clint wanted to spur the legislation needed to help make free energy from the sun make economic sense," said Michael Waxer, vice president of Carmel Development Co., which built Eastwood's golf course.