California solar initiative pushes the state past 1 GW of installed solar PV

• 11 years ago (2013-01-18)
• Junior Isles

Renewables 757

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The California Solar Initiative (CSI) has announced that the State of California surpassed 1 GW of solar PV generating capacity during December 2012. In all, installed PV reached 1066 MW by the end of 2012, with another 332 MW is committed for installation.

“California has the most customer-side solar installations of any state in the nation,” states Michael Peevey, President of the California Public Utilities Commission. “This is a tremendous milestone for California and a testament to the success of the California State Initiative.”

The CSI program was initiated in 2007 to ease the process of installing rooftop solar units for homeowners and businesses. It offers cash back rebates and helps to simplify the installation process for PV generators.

CIS is currently on track to meet their original target of building 1940 MW of installed solar PV by 2017.

California is prime PV real-estate, and CSI’s efforts have extended state wide, including Santa Rosa and San Jose in the north and San Diego, Irvine and Fresno in the south shore. San Jose tops the list of cities with the highest PV with a capacity of 54.6 MW, with San Diego a close second with 51.3 MW.

Response for the CSI program has remained very strong; with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E;) adding around 1000 new net meter customers each month. Initial rebates for the program began at around $2.50/watt in 2007, but the program remained successful at $0.20/watt during 2012.

“The robust response to the program, even as the rebates continue to shrink as planned, shows that solar can stand on its own,” said Danny Boyles of PG&E.;