A GetSolar Guide to California Solar Incentives
getsolar.com
If there’s one thing that a first-time buyer of solar, a seasonedsolar installer and we here at GetSolar.com all know about buying asolar system, it’s that solar incentives can be inordinatelycomplicated and differentiated, with utility-, state- and sometimeseven county-specific rebates and regulations unapologetically in place.Even the most experienced solar energy expert can’t be expected toremember all of those rules, deadlines and percentages; the lengthylists and technical verbiage found in most of the available readingmaterial can be a turn-off, and it’s not easy to tell which rebateshave already gone obsolete.
So, in addition to our regular programming of news and analysis,GetSolar will be introducing its California Solar Series. We’ll look atsome of the Golden State’s key counties for solar and briefly distill afew of the main solar incentives to be found, organized into a quickbreakdown. We’ll be covering San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, SanFrancisco, Sacramento and Santa Clara.
The California Solar Series will focus mostly on incentives available through the California Solar Initiative, a decade-long, $2.17 billion program set to last until 2016 and overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission.The CSI builds on the solar rebates offered by Pacific Gas &Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas& Electric (SDG&E), although customers of municipal utilitiesare eligible for the incentives too, provided that their utilitycompanies offer them (if they don’t, the CSI website notes that theywill eventually).
And so, without further ado, we’ll be kicking off our CaliforniaSolar Series with an explanation of the California Solar Initiativetomorrow, and covering San Diego County solar incentives on Thursday.Questions, comments and suggestions encouraged, as always.
