Introducing the California Solar Series: A GetSolar Guide to California Solar Incentives

If there’s one thing that a first-time buyer of solar, a seasoned solar installer and we here at GetSolar.com all know about buying a solar system, it’s that solar incentives can be inordinately complicated and differentiated, with utility-, state- and sometimes even county-specific rebates and regulations unapologetically in place. Even the most experienced solar energy expert can’t be expected to remember all of those rules, deadlines and percentages; the lengthy lists and technical verbiage found in most of the available reading material can be a turn-off, and it’s not easy to tell which rebates have 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 at some of the Golden State’s key counties for solar and briefly distill a few of the main solar incentives to be found, organized into a quick breakdown. We’ll be covering San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, 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 utilities are eligible for the incentives too, provided that their utility companies offer them (if they don’t, the CSI website notes that they will eventually).

And so, without further ado, we’ll be kicking off our California Solar Series this week with an overview of the California Solar Initiative. Next week, we’ll start in with in-depth regional coverage, beginning with San Diego County solar incentives. Questions, comments and suggestions encouraged, as always.