SAN FRANCISCO, July 10, 2013 – The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today issued its annual report on the progress of the California Solar Initiative, showing that the program has installed 66 percent of its total goal, with another 19 percent reserved in pending projects. This equals an estimated 1,629 megawatts (MW) of installed solar capacity at 167,878 customer sites in the investor-owned utility territories through the end of the first quarter of 2013, enough to power approximately 150,000 homes and avoid building three power plants.
In January 2007, California began an unprecedented $3.3 billion ratepayer-funded effort to install 3,000 MW of new solar over the next decade and transform the market for solar energy by reducing the cost of solar generating equipment. The CPUC’s portion of the solar effort is known as the California Solar Initiative (CSI). It is the country’s largest solar program and has a $2.2 billion budget and a goal of 1,940 MW of solar capacity by the end of 2016.
Highlights of the report issued today include:
A record 391 MW were installed statewide in 2012, a growth of 26 percent from 2011.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company achieved the most installations in the non-residential sector of any investor-owned utility, having met 70 percent of their non-residential installation goal.
Applicants to the low income portion of CSI, known as the Single-Family Affordable Solar Homes program, have received $64 million in support for their residential solar systems while the Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) program has completed 287 projects representing a total capacity of 18.4 MW. There are an additional 83 MASH projects in process, for a total capacity of 11.3 MW. Virtual Net Metering has allowed thousands of tenants to receive the direct benefits of solar as reductions in their monthly electric bills.
In just over three years of operation, the CSI-Thermal program has received 1,215 applications for $56.3 million in incentives.
All but 92 MW, or 6 percent, of solar capacity in the state is signed up for Net Energy Metering (NEM) tariffs. Pursuant to Assembly Bill 2514 (Bradford, 2012) and CPUC Decision 12-05-036, the CPUC has initiated a study on the costs and benefits of NEM to ratepayers. The study will be released later this year.