San Diego, already a national leader in solar and renewable energy generation, is upping the ante. Two weeks ago, nine public entities in the region submitted nearly 300 applications to issue Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs).

In short, the CREB program enables municipalities and other qualifying public entities to finance energy projects via low-interest tax-credit bonds. The bonds are sponsored by the federal government under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which raised the total CREB allocation to $2.4 billion. The CREBs program deadline was August 4th. (For more details, see the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Energy Efficiency website.)

Anyway, the bottom line is that if all applications are accepted, the San Diego region could raise $260 million to finance the installation of 160 new solar projects over the next three years, adding 26 megawatts of solar generation to existing capacity. Booyah.

Here’s a useful overview (PDF) of San Diego’s energy financing strategy, made available from CleanTECH San Diego.

If you’ve got CREBs-related stories, please post links here. We’re interested in learning about how other municipalities hope to make use of the program.