It’s hard to know what to focus on when the last several days have seen so much hustle and bustle in the solar world. But the biggest news: New Jersey is accepting applications for solar rebates. Again. Why is this shocking? Well, you might remember how the CORE  program sort of, er, ran out of money partway through last year’s funding cycle. After this crisis, the state decided to implement a different incentive scheme: namely, SREC trading for both residential and commercial solar customers. If you entered into that scheme, you were not eligible for any cash rebate–it was SREC only.

That’s all changed. Homeowners can now take advantage of a new rebate, between $1.55 and $1.75/watt (the two shiny extra dimes per watt are only yours if you get  a home energy audit before installing your system). This is a huge step down from the program’s previous rebate level, which at one point was up around $4/watt. Still,

A typical solar power system that generates seven kilowatts costs about $60,000, state Board of Public Utilities spokesman Doyal Siddell said. A rebate would cover $12,250 of that cost. [APP.com]

Aside from the fact that a typical home solar electric system generates more like 3.5 or 4kw than 7, that’s not a bad rebate when you take into account the fact that homeowners can still take advantage of the SREC trading scheme on top of that. This might put NJ in the lead again. Think about a state like Massachusetts, which has a great set of tax incentives for commercial customers but a miserly base rebate of $1/watt for residential customers. Or even California, where the tiered incentive program has been so successful that, in some parts of the state, rebates have already been scaled back to around $2/watt with no auxiliary cash incentives available.

Commercial and industrial concerns in New Jersey will be eligible for a $1/watt rebate; again, that’s on top of the SREC trading program. Each 1-mw SREC is selling currently for over $450.

The new solar rebates will be available to applicants who get in queue before April 30th, 2009. Although the line only started forming yesterday, you might want to get a move on: the $27.2 million the state has made available for these rebates may not last long, if last year’s example is anything to go by.

For more information, spend some quality time on the website of New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program. Then, fill out the relevant GetSolar web form (Residential or Commercial) to determine if solar is right for you.