The California Solar Initiative - CSI

A Decade of Support for Solar

The California Solar Initiative is part of the Go Solar California campaign and builds on 10 years of state solar rebates offered to customers in California's investor-owned utility territories: Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E.) The California Solar Initiative is overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission.

Since 1998, rebates for small solar energy systems were managed under the Emerging Renewables Program (ERP) at the California Energy Commission. In 2001, a second program that covered rebates for larger systems--over 30 kW--was assigned to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) through the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP).

In August 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger affirmed his support for solar energy, and announced the Million Solar Roofs program.

In January 2006, the CPUC collaborated with the Energy Commission to develop the framework of the California Solar Initiative Program through 2016.

In January 2007, the State of California launched Go Solar California, which included two new solar incentive programs, with slightly modified program requirements compared to the older programs. The Energy Commission provides incentives to energy efficient new home construction under the New Solar Homes Partnership. All other facilities in investor-owned utility territories receive rebates from the CPUC-administered program, the California Solar Initiative.

The new framework also included a major shift in the way solar incentives were calculated - away from a system that funded solar incentives based only on nameplate capacity and towards one where incentive levels are based on performance factors such as installation angle, tilt, and location. This performance framework ensures that California is generating clean solar energy and rewarding systems that can provide maximum solar generation.

The CPUC developed the program rules for the California Solar Initiative through a public rulemaking process. Among the major policy decisions made by the CPUC's rulemaking were how to organize and adjust the incentive levels, how to provide performance based incentives, how to require metering, and how to develop program rules in the form of a Program Handbook. The rulemaking also decided issues related to low income solar program development, marketing and outreach, research, development and demonstration (RD&D), program measurement and evaluation, and the Self Generation Incentive Program, which provides incentives to wind and fuel cells.

For information on the regulatory process governing the CSI proceeding, click here.

There is also more history of solar in California, available here.

Budget for the California Solar Initiative

The California Solar Initiative has a budget of $2,167 million (2007-2016) as detailed in this table:

Calilfornia Solar Inititive The CSI statewide consumer website, includes information on the CPUC, CEC, and POU programs, including the CSI Program Handbook. The CSI Program Administrators use an online tool to calculate the up-front Expected Performance Based Buy down (EPBB) incentive, known as the EPBB Calculator The CSI Program Administrators uses an online application tool and reporting database, known as PowerClerk Up-to-date information about the program's current incentive level, or "step" can be found on the online CSI Trigger Tracker California Solar Statistics, a data reporting website that draws directly from the CSI database and is updated weekly Information about the CPUC regulatory proceeding that deals with the CSI Program Pacific Gas & Electric Company Southern California Edison California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) – offering Solar Rebates in San Diego Gas & Electric Territory and the Solar Hot Water Pilot Program