2010 Annual Program Assessment

• Three years into the state's 10-year solar program, California is already 42 percent of the way towards its general market program goal in the territories of the investor-owned utilities. This figure includes both projects already installed and those currently holding reservations for incentives and in the process of being installed.
• California has over 600 MW of solar connected to the electric grid at nearly 65,000 customer sites. Of the 598 MW of capacity installed in investor-owned utility territories, 342 MW were installed under the CSI Program at 31,000 sites, as well as 256 MW installed through other programs.
• Demand is increasing. The CSI Program received a record of nearly 300 MW of new CSI project applications since January 2010 - more than any other six-month period since the start of the program.
• The program had over 134 MW of new projects applying in April 2010, the highest month on record for new solar applications.
• For every dollar spent on incentives by the state, there has been another $2.62 invested in solar technology in California from other sources.
• Program data shows a decline in the average cost of solar systems. The inflation adjusted cost trends show that prices have declined since January 2007 from $10.04/watt to $8.49/watt for systems under 10 kW.
• The CSI Program has reduced incentive levels several times since 2007 in response to program demand. Incentives started at $2.50/watt across the state, and now they are as low as $0.65/watt.

Read our press release.