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California Solar Initiative

The California Solar Initiative – CSI

The Go Solar California campaign is a joint effort of the California Energy Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission. The goal is to encourage Californians to install 3,000 megawatts of solar energy systems on homes and businesses by the end of 2016, making renewable energy an everyday reality. The program also has a goal to install 585 million therms of gas-displacing solar hot water systems by the end of 2017.

The California Solar Initiative (CSI) makes powering your home with clean, renewable solar energy easier than ever before by providing a financial incentive for installing qualifying photovoltaic systems on a home or business.

For more information the Go Solar Initiative, please visit http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/

PG&E is a proud Program Administrator of the CSI program and is ready to help you go solar today.

For more information direct from PG&E, please visit PG&E Solar Energy Incentives

California Solar Initiative Rebates

California Solar Initiative rebates vary according to utility territory, system size, customer class, and performance and installation factors. The rebates automatically decline in “steps” based on the volume of solar megawatts (MWs) with confirmed project reservations within each utility service territory.

CSI Incentive Types

Expected Performance-Based Buydown (EPBB) (Paid in dollars/Watt)

  • Ideal for residential and small business projects
  • Systems less than 30 kW
  • Incentive paid per Watt based on your system’s expected performance (factors include CEC-AC rating, location, orientation and shading)
  • One-time, lump-sum upfront payment
Performance-Based Incentive (PBI) (Paid in cents/kWh)

  • Ideal for larger commercial, government & non-profit projects
  • Mandatory for all systems 30 kW and greater Systems less than 30kW can opt-in to PBI
  • Incentive paid based on the actual energy produced by the solar system, measured in kilowatt-hours
  • 60 monthly payments over five years

Program Eligibility

To qualify for the California Solar Initiative (CSI), all program eligibility requirements must be met. This includes the following:

  • Project site must be in the service territory of PG&E and receive retail electric service.
  • If residential project, must be retrofit (existing) or if non-residential project, (Commercial, Industrial, Agricultural, Public Entity and Government) can be retrofit (existing) or new construction.
  • Must use new equipment that has been approved by the California Energy Commission (CEC).
We asked DC solar to provide us with enough panels to zero out our PG&E electric bill and do it only with American made products. That is exactly what they did! We were very happy with the way they walked us through exactly what would happen; from the installation process, but also the paper work to receive all the proper Tax and PG&E credits. They gave us dates for install and it happened just the way they said it would, which to us, is very important. The panels look great! I am even happy with the way they look and blend into the home. We are also very pleased with the performance of our panels. They do exactly what we were told they would do. We did the right thing and feel good about supplying our own electricity to power our home. We highly recommend having solar power and having DC Solar do the work.Jeff ERB

Kudos to DC Solar

From The Union Newspaper 12/4/12 We want to let people know of a great local solar company, DC Solar. This fall we had damage to our solar panels and proceeded to go through quite a lot of grief trying to get answers for repair/replace, etc. After several weeks of no help from any other local solar company, including the original installer, DC Solar repaired the damaged panels in half a day’s time at a fraction of the cost we were getting told was needed to fix the problem. We are back up and running and DC Solar is our new solar go-to. Jim and MarnaJim and Marna