While incentives alone have worked to grow the market for solar PV systems in California, the state’s generous CSI Thermal rebates—plus the Federal 30% Investment Tax Credit—have yet to create a solar hot water boom in California. At least not … Continue reading
Here’s a brief update on how the CSI Thermal program is progressing in California after the commercial rebate was raised 13.33% in August 2012. The results six months later? Not so good. See chart below: As you can see from … Continue reading
Finally, the solar thermal industry has a specific new advocacy organization within SEIA. In mid February 2013, SEIA announced that it was forming the U.S. Solar Heating and Cooling Alliance (SHC Alliance), a SEIA division that will specifically address the … Continue reading
Recently, the Free Hot Water blog discussed the lack of solar thermal installers in California that are eligible to collect the CSI Thermal rebate. If you missed that post, read it here. That lack of solar thermal installers is a … Continue reading
We’ve just learned that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has voted to increase the California Solar Initiative’s Thermal Rebate (CSI Thermal program) for both residential and commercial customers. The residential rebate will go up by a significant 45% in … Continue reading
California’s CSI Thermal rebate for commercial applications may be generous, but the three program administrators aren’t just writing checks for people to go solar thermal. Like any state incentive, there are specific requirements, and one of the biggest is performance … Continue reading
Update: A few weeks after writing this post California’s Public Utility Commission (CPUC) did raise the rebate rates for its CSI Thermal program. Despite a huge pot of incentive dollars available for commercial and residential solar hot water, California’s entire … Continue reading
When California funded the CSI Solar Thermal program in 2010, part of the funding included a carve-out for marketing the program and educating the public about solar hot water’s benefits to consumers and businesses. That public awareness program is finally … Continue reading
Once again, California is leading the way for solar hot water with a new solar thermal incentive, this time for low-income single-family properties and multi-family dwellings. Regular readers to the Free Hot Water blog are probably familiar with California’s CSI … Continue reading
Note: Since writing this post, CSI Thermal rebates have been increased for California solar hot water systems. Earlier this year, the California Solar Initiative (CSI) carved out a new solar hot water rebate program for commercial and residential solar thermal … Continue reading
