California Solar Incentives

Virtually all utility customers have the opportunity to benefit from renewable energy incentives.  This creates green jobs in the service sector.  However, California also has production incentives in place to meet the renewable energy goals set in the Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) program.  These incentives directly create jobs in the production sector.

California solar production incentives come in the form of feed-in tariffs and the purchase of Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs).  

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has made feed-in tariffs available to small facilities with renewable generating capacity for the production of up to 500MW.  Feed-in tariffs will be based on the CPUC market price referent (MPR) and time-of-use factors.  A single customer-generator can enter into a 10, 15, or 20 year standard contract to sell renewable energy to utility companies up to 3MW. 

Utilities offering California feed-in tariffs include Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), San Diego Gas and Electric Company, PacifiCorp, Sierra Pacific Power Company, Bear Valley Electric Service (BVES) Division of Golden State Water Company, and Mountain Utilities (MU).

Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD) offers feed-in tariffs for all renewable energy technologies plus combined heat and power (CHP).  SMUD feed-in tariffs do no use a market price referent and are based on the year placed in service, time of day, time of year, and length of contract.

City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) purchases Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) from within their own local commercial and industrial sectors instead of from outside renewable sources.  

California must employ customer-generated energy to produce 33% of the state's power demand from renewable sources by 2025.

Learn more about California solar incentives.

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