California is closing the books on its successful solar incentive, set up in 2006 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to install a million rooftop systems and 2,000 MW of capacity by 2016.
“The state’s investor-owned utilities have exhausted nearly all available incentives through the program, surpassing the initial target by hundreds of megawatts,” Lacey writes. “But unlike in other regions, installers in California are not closing their businesses or complaining about the end of the solar market as incentives disappear. Instead, they’re installing projects in record numbers.”
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GTM Research data show that 72% of residential systems installed in Q2 2014 were unsubsidized, and “California installers will deploy more than one gigawatt of residential and commercial projects this year, the majority completed without the help of the CSI [California Solar Initiative] incentives.” By 2018, that total could exceed 2.5 GW per year with no incentives.
