2. Background

The Commission established the California Solar Initiative (CSI) in early 2006 in Decision (D.) 06-01-024 and implemented it later in 2006 with the issuance of D.06-08-028 and D.06-12-033. The CSI was conceived as a 10-year market transformation program that provides solar incentives to eligible systems, from 2007 through 2016. Also in 2006, the Legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 1 (Stats. 2006, ch. 132), which directed the Commission and the California Energy Commission (CEC) to implement the CSI given specific requirements and budget limits. Specifically, SB 1 mandates that the total cost of the CSI program overseen by the Commission shall not exceed $2,166,800,000. The Commission established a goal for the general market CSI program to install 1,750 megawatts (MW) of solar energy systems. (D.06-12-033, Appendix B, Table 10.)

Since 2006, the Commission has opened three successive rulemakings to address various sub-programs and implementation issues within CSI. The initial proceeding was Rulemaking (R.) 06-03-004, which was followed by R.08-03-008 and finally the present rulemaking, R.10-05-004. Most recently, the Commission made modifications to the CSI budget in D.10-09-046.

The Commission addressed low-income solar programs in two significant decisions. First, the Single Family Affordable Solar Housing (SASH) Program was established in D.07-11-045 and later modified in D.08-11-005. In 2008, the Commission established the Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) program and Virtual Net Metering (VNM) in D.08-10-036.