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The California Solar Initiative (CSI)

By Carolyn on October 3, 2009 9:32 PM

The California Solar Initiative (CSI) is overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and provides incentives for solar system installations to customers of the state's three investor-owned utilities (IOUs): Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E). The CSI Program provides upfront incentives for solar systems installed on existing residential homes, as well as existing and new commercial, industrial, government, non-profit, and agricultural properties within the service territories of the IOUs.

The CSI Program expanded state support for solar technology and is the product of Governor Schwarzenegger's "Million Solar Roofs" vision for the State of California. The CSI Program was authorized by the CPUC through a number of regulatory decisions throughout 2006. In addition, the legislature expressly authorized the CPUC to create the California Solar Initiative in 2006 in Senate Bill 1 (Murray). When it launched in January 2007, the CSI Program built upon nearly 10 years of state support for solar, including other incentive programs such as the Emerging Renewables Program (ERP) and the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP). Both programs still exist to provide incentives for other technologies but have been closed to new solar projects as of the end of 2006.

CSI Program Components

The CSI Program has a budget of $2.167 billion over 10 years, and the goal is to reach 1,940 MW of installed solar capacity by the end of 2016. The goal includes 1,750 MW of capacity from the general market program, as well as 190 MW of capacity from the low income programs. The general market program is the main incentive program component of the CSI, and is administered through three Program Administrators: PG&E, SCE, and California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) in SDG&E territory.

In addition to the general market program, the CSI Program has four other program components, each with their own program administrator and 10 year budgets:

In addition to the CPUC's CSI Program, Senate Bill 1 envisioned that the State of California would also have other programs to support onsite solar projects, including the California Energy Commission's New Solar Homes Partnership (NSHP), and a variety of solar programs offered through publicly owned utilities (POU). The statewide effort includes the CSI - as well as the NSHP and the POU programs - and it is known collectively as Go Solar California. The statewide goal of the Go Solar California campaign is 3,000 MW and there is a statewide budget of $3.3 billion.

The CSI Program is a subset of the wider solar effort in California.

October is Solar Energy Month!

By Carolyn on October 3, 2009 9:26 PM

         

Get ready for a month of celebrating the joys of going solar during California Solar Energy Month this October 2009.

Get involved and Go Solar, California!

Solar Energy Month provides a showcase for solar events happening statewide--and we want to promote YOUR solar event, too!

Simply click to the Go Solar California! Community Solar Calendar and submit the details about your event.  Then, we will publish your events in weekly emails to over 7,000 subscribers of the California Solar Initiative Newsletter.

The focus of Solar Energy Month 2009 is to Get Involved and Go Solar, California!  We're inviting everyone--from residential solar beginners to savvy solar pros--to join with their communities in taking a solar class or workshop, attending a solar tour or fair, and talking with their neighbors and local businesses about going solar and generating their own clean energy. View the poster.

Here are 10 easy ways you can Get Involved and Go Solar:

  • 1. Submit YOUR local solar event to the Go Solar, California! Community Solar Calendar and reach out to thousands of solar enthusiasts statewide! 
  • 2. Attend one of the many free solar classes held everyday throughout California.  Whether you are completely new to solar, or a seasoned solar contractor, there are dozens of workshops and classes for you.  As a start, the California Solar Initiative Program Administrators in your utility service territory--PG&E, Edison and the California Center for Sustainable Energy (for SDG&E customers)--offer basic and technical solar classes.  Sign up today!
  • 3. Hop on the bus for guided solar tours--or take a self-guided solar tour!  The American Solar Energy Society will sponsor the annual National Solar Tour at over 20 locations in California.  These tours are a lot of fun and incredibly informative, as you get story from real solar system owners. 
  • 4. Already got solar? Wonderful!  Now wouldn't it be great if more and more of your neighbors began installing solar systems, too?  Well, spread the word. Become a Solar Ambassador--the go-to person for solar in your neighborhood--so that when your neighbors have questions about the way solar works, the costs and savings, and how to find a good solar contractor they will have someone to talk to.  (Print out a Go Solar, California! window or lawn sign to announce that you're the neighborhood solar expert!)
  • 5. Hey San Diegans:  Be sure to have fun during Solar Energy Week September 27-October 3, sponsored by the California Center for Sustainable Energy.  Solar Family Fun Day, a Solar Conference, and organized solar homes and commercial tours are just some of the highlights.
  • 6. Looking for an entry into solar's green collar workforce? Solar Energy Month is a stage for green job seekers and employers alike.
    • A recent workforce development survey by the Vote Solar Initiative found 27 programs delivering solar-specific instruction throughout the state, with more than 5,400 prospective new solar workers currently enrolled.
    • The Emerging Industry and Occupations Report (2008) by the Centers for Excellence states that 70% of the businesses surveyed would hire within the next 12 months.
    • The Environmental Defense Fund has published  a Green Jobs Guidebook, which profiles more than 200 green jobs currently in California, including details on 25 different types of solar jobs.
  • 7. Find your solar potential on a solar map.  Both San Francisco and San Diego have developed highly accurate interactive maps for customers and installers to determine how much solar a given rooftop can produce.  The maps account for attributes like tilt, shading, and climate zone, plus allow people to enter other inputs such as historical energy usage and the effects of energy efficiency measures.  Location arrows show other solar systems in the vicinity, and many system owners provide system output and other relevant details to help you get a clear picture of your true solar potential. 
  • 8. Attend a solar expo or conference.  October kicks off with San Diego's Solar Week, then West Coast Green in San Francisco.  The end of October boasts the largest solar conference and exposition in the U.S., Solar Power International, held the 27th-29th in Anaheim. (This year's Keynote Speaker will be Robert Kennedy Jr.)  Mark your calendar: Solar Power is FREE to the public on Wednesday October 28th from 5:30--8:30 p.m., with the whole expo floor open for browsing and several workshops scheduled.
  • 9. Go Solar!  Contact eligible solar contractors for competitive bids; a qualified contractor should hold a valid A, B, C-10, or C-46 California Contractors license, and can be found (among other places) on the State's Eligible Contractors List.  Your contractor will get you started with a simple energy efficiency audit, then show you the most affordable system design for your property--whether to displace your entire load or simply skim off the highest, most expensive energy use tiers--and assist you by applying for California Solar Initiative rebates on your behalf.  Building a custom home?  Make solar part of your home's design from the start. 
    • Your architect or builder can help you with New Solar Homes Partnership incentives. 
    • Go solar and you're also eligible for 30 percent federal tax credit (plus other business perks like accelerated depreciation.) 
    • And homeowners, did you know that your solar system will increase the value of your home without a property tax assessment? 
    • Plus, you get to generate free energy each month, earn bill credits for your surplus generation, AND do something good for the environment.  

Don't let your rooftop go to waste--go solar!

  • 10. Help inform others. If you know someone who is considering solar--as an energy solution, investment, or career--then forward the California Solar Initiative electronic newsletter their way.  You can also send them the option to subscribe themselves.  Click here for the opt-in form. For serious data fans, take a look at the CSI Program's Performance in the CPUC Annual Program Assessment to the Legislature.  California now boasts a half gigawatt of solar power in over 50,000 locations.

Intersolar Europe 2008 - 140 country solar trade fair

By Carolyn on August 1, 2009 10:00 AM
the following video provides information on the Intersolar Europe 2008 conference which took place in Germany and featured more than 1,000 exhibitors and 52,000 visitors from 140 countries.

For more information:

Energy Efficiency for Southern States Researched by ORNL

By Carolyn on April 25, 2008 4:56 PM

Energy consumption is one of six factors incorporated into the tally of Forbes magazines's "Greenest States", closely linked to other "green" standards, including air quality and carbon dioxide emissions.

Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, summarized the situation in a recent presentation to Oak Ridge National Laboratory employees: "The South is the Gobi Desert of energy efficiency."

Energy Efficiency Potential Provides Greatest Savings

While bioenergy, nuclear and other expanding energy options are important, "the potential of energy efficiency is probably greater than any other resource." She views the confluence of record prices for oil and increasing anxiety over carbon emissions as a "perfect storm" that makes the attitude of both the market and the public ripe for fundamental change.

Recognizing these trends, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are developing an array of energy-efficient appliances, testing energy-saving building materials and refining a zero-energy home that literally will produce more energy than it consumes.

As world energy demand collides with the growing public desire for a carbon-constrained environment, ORNL increasingly is recognized as a source of expertise for cities, states and utilities looking to trim bulging energy waistlines. The Tennessee Valley Authority has joined state and local government as well as non-profit energy efficiency advocate groups in asking the Laboratory to provide input for policy, incentives and technologies to transform the desert of consumption into an oasis of energy efficiency.

Demonstrating a renewed commitment to energy efficiency, the TVA board recently named Joe Hoagland, former senior advisor to TVA President Tom Kilgore, to a newly created post of vice president for energy efficiency and demand response. Hoagland's first task is to determine how much energy savings TVA needs to achieve in order to meet growing energy demands over the next 20 years.

Times have clearly changed. "In order to meet the goals of low cost and reliability, energy efficiency and demand response are now tools as much as our assets that generate electricity," Hoagland says, adding that TVA's strategy also incorporates environmental concerns. "A megawatt not produced is a green megawatt.


"A megawatt not produced is a green megawatt."


When Hoagland came to his new post last fall, he was asked to determine what was needed to generate 1,200 megawatts of energy savings, or the equivalent of one large nuclear or coal-fired power plant, by 2013. "As we begin to understand the situation better, I'm not sure that is going to be enough. I expect that we will need to cut back more, much more," he says.

Meeting the challenge will require TVA to adopt a combination of tactics, including new technologies, rate restructuring, education and customer incentives to achieve the required savings. The agency has signed a memorandum of understanding with ORNL as a first step in what Hoagland envisions as a growing, and necessary, partnership with the Laboratory.

"ORNL has a broad expertise in energy efficient technologies to help us do things better," he says. Oak Ridge researchers have unique experience in

  • designing zero-energy homes,
  • creative construction techniques,
  • new insulation technologies and
  • a sophisticated set of energy efficiency standards.

If these initiatives prove successful, the potential impact is enormous. ORNL researchers believe that fully one-half of the South's anticipated increase in energy demand can be met through energy efficiency.


Read more about ORNL's Southern Energy Efficiency Initiatives



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