Focus on Energy: Solar Hot Water Incentive Program

Bonus incentives are available for projects that incorporate efficiency, and adders may also be available from local utilities. Due to the maturation of and increased interest in efficiency and solar technologies in Wisconsin, the incentive levels and procedures for project approval are subject to change in 2011.
  

The levels of incentives provided are one factor in stimulating commercial solar hot water installations in Wisconsin, but other, non-monetary program elements are just as important. These elements include:

• Technology specificity: Focus on Energy has developed a program just for commercial solar hot water, meaning it is not in competition with other technologies that may meet different objectives (such as PV for electricity generation).
• Non-competitive, ongoing: As long as funds remain in the program and all elibility criteria are met, commercial solar hot water projects are assured funding in a first-come, first-served manner on a rolling basis.
• Simple paperwork: Focus on Energy provides a form with detailed instructions for the customer and his or her installer to fill out, requiring all the information that the program administrators will need to determine a project’s eligibility. The installer base has been well-trained to facilitate the submission of this paperwork for approval.
• Broad applications allowed: Focus allows for systems in situations ranging from hot water to process heating to pools heating, meeting the needs of most potential high-use customers.
• Assistance offered: Focus helps customers at both the front and the back ends of the process, from offering discounted site assessments, design review, a list of installation requirements, and a preapproved list of contractors to verifying systems post-completion and requiring monitoring systems on larger installations, so the program and the customer can track a system’s effectiveness.

The following chart illustrates the success of the program since its inception:

These incentives have served a wide variety of applications, including:

• Dentists’ offices
• Laundromats
• Landscaping firms
• Churches
• Health care clinics
• Hospitals
• Hotels
• Restaurants
• Schools
• Public pools
• Apartments
• Industrial applications

Special thanks to Kari  Heinrich, Solar Hot Water Lead,  Focus on Energy for her assistance in preparing this Solar Spotlight.

A PDF file of this program summary can be downloaded by Clicking Here.

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Source: Clean Energy States Alliance

This CESA report provides an overview and specific examples of three creative finance tools that any state can use to support PV in the context of an existing RPS: solar set-asides, feed-in tariffs, and reverse auction mechanisms. These tools are primarily targeted at commercial- and utility-scale projects, and use of any of them can reduce the need for states to provide direct rebates and incentives to PV projects. These tools, if smartly designed, can allow states to build sustainable solar markets with programs that are economically efficient, reward PV system performance, allow for program continuity, advance market transformation and avoid rebate dependency.

The authors contend that providing special treatment to PV projects in the context of an RPS is important if states are to build and maintain public support for their RPS programs, particularly in cases where solar is the most widely accessible in-state renewable energy resource.

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Source: Clean Energy States Alliance

The New Solar Homes Partnership (NSHP) is part of a comprehensive statewide solar program known as the California Solar Initiative (CSI).The NSHP implements the Energy Commission’s portion of the CSI and provides financial incentives to encourage the installation of eligible, solar energy systems on new residential construction. The Energy Commission will work with builders and developers to incorporate high levels of energy efficiency and high-performing solar systems to help create a self-sustaining solar market.

 The NSHP seeks to achieve 400 megawatts of installed solar electric capacity in California by the end of 2016.

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File Type: PDF
Source: California Energy Commission

For more information, please see their website by clicking here.

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Source: California Public Utilities Commission

Over the past decade, states have played an increasingly important role in providing financial support to renewable energy projects, with funding often derived from state-established public benefit funds. The financial support tools for renewable energy projects have ranged from rebates to competitive grants to loans. Complementing these tools has been a set of public policies— tax incentives, net metering and interconnection rules, renewable portfolio standards—passed by state legislatures and regulators. Recently, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) also provided significant funding to states to support clean energy investments.

The purpose of this report is to describe the many financing options available to state energy offices, municipal governments, and other energy agencies for utilizing public funds for clean energy project support. The report analyzes their strengths and weaknesses and identifies best practices. One key finding is that, while each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses, the use of these tools as a portfolio of approaches creates the most robust, effective programs.

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File Format: PDF
File Souce: Clean Energy States Alliance

Clean Energy Group and Clean Energy States Alliance will host a PV Webinar on LBNL’s recent report, “Tracking the Sun II – The Installed Cost of Photovoltaics in the U.S. from 1998-2008.” Galen Barbose of LBNL, one of the report’s principal authors, will brief attendees on the key findings from the report.

The LBNL report provides a comprehensive summary of installed cost trends for grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States from 1998 through 2008, updating an earlier report that contained data through 2007. The updated report is based on project-level data from more than 52,000 residential and non-residential PV systems, totaling 566 MW of capacity and representing 71% of all grid-connected PV capacity installed in the U.S. through 2008. These data were provided by 27 PV incentive programs spanning 16 states.

The report finds that average installed costs have declined over time, from $10.8/W in 1998 to $7.5/W in 2008 (in real 2008 dollars per installed watt DC).  Importantly, average costs declined by approximately $0.3/W from 2007 to 2008, following several preceding years (2005-2007) when they remained essentially flat.  The cost reductions from 2007 to 2008 were associated with a decline in module costs, in contrast to earlier years when cost reductions were associated primarily with a decline in non-module costs.

The report also finds evidence of sizable economies of scale among the PV systems in our sample, significant variation in average installed cost among states, and cost advantages for PV installed in residential new construction relative to the retrofit market.  The report also describes trends in financial incentive levels over time, by customer type and among states, and the associated impact of these trends on the net installed cost of PV for residential and commercial PV system owners after receipt of incentives.

The report can be downloaded here: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/emp/re-pubs.html.

If you would like to register for this November 12thwebinar, please send an email to maria@cleanegroup.org with “PV Cost Trends Webinar” in the subject line and include your contact information; the call in information will be provided at that time.

This report provides a comprehensive summary of installed cost trends for grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States from 1998 through 2008, updating an earlier report that contained data through 2007.  The updated report is based on project-level data from more than 52,000 residential and non-residential PV systems, totaling 566 MW of capacity and representing 71% of all grid-connected PV capacity installed in the U.S. through 2008.  These data were provided by 27 PV incentive programs spanning 16 states.

The report finds that average installed costs have declined over time, from $10.8/W in 1998 to $7.5/W in 2008 (in real 2008 dollars per installed watt DC).  Importantly, average costs declined by approximately $0.3/W from 2007 to 2008, following several preceding years (2005-2007) when they remained essentially flat.  The cost reductions from 2007 to 2008 were associated with a decline in module costs, in contrast to earlier years when cost reductions were associated primarily with a decline in non-module costs.

Costs are generally lower in states with larger PV deployment programs (though exceptions exist), and international experience suggests that greater near-term cost reductions are possible, with Germany and Japan exhibiting significantly lower average installed costs for residential PV systems than the U.S.  The report finds evidence of sizable economies of scale among the PV systems in our sample, significant variation in average installed cost among states, and cost advantages for PV installed in residential new construction relative to the retrofit market.  The report also describes trends in financial incentive levels over time, by customer type and among states, and the associated impact of these trends on the net installed cost of PV for residential and commercial PV system owners after receipt of incentives.

The report can be downloaded from: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/emp/re-pubs.htmlA
PowerPoint presentation that summarizes key findings can be found at: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/emp/emp-ppt.html

Funding support for this report was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Program, and the Clean Energy States Alliance.

The California Public Utilities Commission’s California Solar Initiative (CSI) team issued its October Staff Progress Report on October 21, 2009.   Highlights of the report include:

• The California Solar Initiative (CSI) Program has reached 257 megawatt (MW) of installed solar at 21,159 sites since 2007.
• California has reached a cumulative 509 MW of installed solar at 52,714 sites (which includes sites installed prior to the start of CSI in 2007).
• The report focuses on Q3 2009 in which the CSI Program saw record high demand for new solar applications, including over 2,200 program applications in the month of August alone.
• Small solar systems prices declined 9 percent and large system prices declined by 13 percent since the same quarter last year.
• In addition to the CSI general market incentive program, all other CSI Program components continue to make key progress towards goals, including the CSI Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D), and the CSI Solar Water Heating Pilot Program (SWHPP). as well as the two affordable housing programs – CSI’s Single-family Affordable Solar Homes (SASH) and CSI Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH).

To download the report, click here:

http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/energy/Solar/091021_staffprogressreport.htm