COM/MP1/jt2 Date of Issuance 10/20/2008
Decision 08-10-036 October 16, 2008
BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Order Instituting Rulemaking Regarding Policies, Procedures and Rules for the California Solar Initiative, the Self-Generation Incentive Program and Other Distributed Generation Issues. |
Rulemaking 08-03-008 (Filed March 13, 2008) |
DECISION ESTABLISHING MULTIFAMILY AFFORDABLE SOLAR HOUSING PROGRAM WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA SOLAR INITIATIVE
Table of Contents
Title Page
DECISION ESTABLISHING MULTIFAMILY AFFORDABLE SOLAR
HOUSING PROGRAM WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA SOLAR INITIATIVE 22
3. Program Overview and Goals 66
5. Budget and Program Timeline 1818
7. Energy Efficiency Requirements 2626
9. Program Evaluation and Milestones 4040
10. Other Program Requirements 4242
11. Comments on Proposed Decision 4343
12. Assignment of Proceeding 4646
Appendix A - California Solar Initiative Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing Program
Appendix B - Virtual Net Metering Tariff Requirements
DECISION ESTABLISHING MULTIFAMILY AFFORDABLE SOLAR HOUSING PROGRAM WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA SOLAR INITIATIVE
1. Summary
This decision establishes a $108 million solar incentive program for Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) as part of the California Solar Initiative (CSI) overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission. The MASH program will provide solar incentives to qualifying affordable housing developments, as defined in state law. Incentive levels depend on whether the solar installation provides power to common areas of the affordable housing complex or directly to tenant units, with incentive levels of $3.30 per watt for systems offsetting common area load, and $4.00 per watt for systems offsetting tenant load. Applicants for MASH incentives may also apply for higher incentive levels through a competitive application process.
This decision establishes MASH program budget and evaluation details and specifies that the program will be administered by the existing CSI Program Administrators in the service territories of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison Company (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E). The details of the MASH program are set forth in Appendix A of this order.1
In order to encourage solar installations on multitenant affordable housing properties through the MASH program, this decision directs PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E to file tariffs for a "virtual net metering" program. Virtual net metering will allow the electricity produced by a single solar installation to be credited to the benefit of multiple tenants in the building without requiring the system to be physically connected to each tenant's meter.
1 It is important to note that building owners of multitenant properties with tenants of any income level may participate in the general market CSI program, as established in D.06-08-028 and subsequent orders, regardless of the status of the MASH program adopted herein.
