California solar subsidies plummet

As of Friday, the solar subsidy for residential and commercial customers of San Diego Gas & Electric and Pacific Gas & Electric fell to $0.20 per installed watt, according to data from the California Solar Initiative (CSI). This is a significant drop from the original rebate of $2.50 per installed watt. Southern California Edison is currently offering a rebate of $0.35 per installed watt of solar.

At it's creation, the solar initiative had a total budget of more than $2 billion between 2007 and 2016 to be used toward a goal of installing nearly 2,000 MW of new solar generation. A typical home installation would net customers about $12,500, according to the North County Times.

Although plummeting subsidies are failing to attract customers and have placed the program in jeopardy, it remains unclear if this will negatively impact the solar industry as a whole, as third-party leases are filling gaps left by a downturn in home installations, the article reports. In fact, in 2011, solar leases accounted for nearly 75 percent of all solar installs in SDG&E's territory, according to CSI data.