Section 2851.

(a) In implementing the California Solar Initiative, the commission shall do all of the following:

(1) The commission shall authorize the award of monetary incentives for up to the first megawatt of alternating current generated by solar energy systems that meet the eligibility criteria established by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission pursuant to Chapter 8.8 (commencing with Section 25780) of Division 15 of the Public Resources Code. The commission shall determine the eligibility of a solar energy system, as defined in Section 25781 of the Public Resources Code, to receive monetary incentives until the time the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission establishes eligibility criteria pursuant to Section 25782. Monetary incentives shall not be awarded for solar energy systems that do not meet the eligibility criteria. The incentive level authorized by the commission shall decline each year following implementation of the California Solar Initiative, at a rate of no less than an average of 7 percent per year, and shall be zero as of December 31, 2016. The commission shall adopt and publish a schedule of declining incentive levels no less than 30 days in advance of the first decline in incentive levels. The commission may develop incentives based upon the output of electricity from the system, provided those incentives are consistent with the declining incentive levels of this paragraph and the incentives apply to only the first megawatt of electricity generated by the system.

(2) The commission shall adopt a performance-based incentive program so that by January 1, 2008, 100 percent of incentives for solar energy systems of 100 kilowatts or greater and at least 50 percent of incentives for solar energy systems of 30 kilowatts or greater are earned based on the actual electrical output of the solar energy systems. The commission shall encourage, and may require, performance-based incentives for solar energy systems of less than 30 kilowatts. Performance-based incentives shall decline at a rate of no less than an average of 7 percent per year. In developing the performance-based incentives, the commission may:

(A) Apply performance-based incentives only to customer classes designated by the commission.

(B) Design the performance-based incentives so that customers may receive a higher level of incentives than under incentives based on installed electrical capacity.

(C) Develop financing options that help offset the installation costs of the solar energy system, provided that this financing is ultimately repaid in full by the consumer or through the application of the performance-based rebates.

(3) By January 1, 2008, the commission, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, shall require reasonable and cost-effective energy efficiency improvements in existing buildings as a condition of providing incentives for eligible solar energy systems, with appropriate exemptions or limitations to accommodate the limited financial resources of low-income residential housing.

(4) Notwithstanding subdivision (g) of Section 2827, the commission may develop a time-variant tariff that creates the maximum incentive for ratepayers to install solar energy systems so that the system's peak electricity production coincides with California's peak electricity demands and that ensures that ratepayers receive due value for their contribution to the purchase of solar energy systems and customers with solar energy systems continue to have an incentive to use electricity efficiently. In developing the time-variant tariff, the commission may exclude customers participating in the tariff from the rate cap for residential customers for existing baseline quantities or usage by those customers of up to 130 percent of existing baseline quantities, as required by Section 80110 of the Water Code. Nothing in this paragraph authorizes the commission to require time-variant pricing for ratepayers without a solar energy system.

(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), in implementing the California Solar Initiative, the commission may authorize the award of monetary incentives for solar thermal and solar water heating devices, in a total amount up to one hundred million eight hundred thousand dollars ($100,800,000).

(c) (1) In implementing the California Solar Initiative, the commission shall not allocate more than fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) to research, development, and demonstration that explores solar technologies and other distributed generation technologies that employ or could employ solar energy for generation or storage of electricity or to offset natural gas usage. Any program that allocates additional moneys to research, development, and demonstration shall be developed in collaboration with the Energy Commission to ensure there is no duplication of efforts, and adopted by the commission through a rulemaking or other appropriate public proceeding. Any grant awarded by the commission for research, development, and demonstration shall be approved by the full commission at a public meeting. This subdivision does not prohibit the commission from continuing to allocate moneys to research, development, and demonstration pursuant to the self-generation incentive program for distributed generation resources originally established pursuant to Chapter 329 of the Statutes of 2000, as modified pursuant to Section 379.6.

(2) The Legislature finds and declares that a program that provides a stable source of monetary incentives for eligible solar energy systems will encourage private investment sufficient to make solar technologies cost effective.

(3) On or before June 30, 2009, and by June 30th of every year thereafter, the commission shall submit to the Legislature an assessment of the success of the California Solar Initiative program. That assessment shall include the number of residential and commercial sites that have installed solar thermal devices for which an award was made pursuant to subdivision (b) and the dollar value of the award, the number of residential and commercial sites that have installed solar energy systems, the electrical generating capacity of the installed solar energy systems, the cost of the program, total electrical system benefits, including the effect on electrical service rates, environmental benefits, how the program affects the operation and reliability of the electrical grid, how the program has affected peak demand for electricity, the progress made toward reaching the goals of the program, whether the program is on schedule to meet the program goals, and recommendations for improving the program to meet its goals. If the commission allocates additional moneys to research, development, and demonstration that explores solar technologies and other distributed generation technologies pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall include in the assessment submitted to the Legislature, a description of the program, a summary of each award made or project funded pursuant to the program, including the intended purposes to be achieved by the particular award or project, and the results of each award or project.

(d) (1) The commission shall not impose any charge upon the consumption of natural gas, or upon natural gas ratepayers, to fund the California Solar Initiative.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any charge imposed to fund the program adopted and implemented pursuant to this section shall be imposed upon all customers not participating in the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) or family electric rate assistance (FERA) programs, including those residential customers subject to the rate cap required by Section 80110 of the Water Code for existing baseline quantities or usage up to 130 percent of existing baseline quantities of electricity.

(3) The costs of the program adopted and implemented pursuant to this section may not be recovered from customers participating in the California Alternate Rates for Energy or CARE program established pursuant to Section 739.1, except to the extent that program costs are recovered out of the nonbypassable system benefits charge authorized pursuant to Section 399.8.

(e) In implementing the California Solar Initiative, the commission shall ensure that the total cost over the duration of the program does not exceed three billion five hundred fifty million eight hundred thousand dollars ($3,550,800,000). The financial components of the California Solar Initiative shall consist of the following:

(1) Programs under the supervision of the commission funded by charges collected from customers of San Diego Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison Company, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The total cost over the duration of these programs shall not exceed two billion three hundred sixty-six million eight hundred thousand dollars ($2,366,800,000) and includes moneys collected directly into a tracking account for support of the California Solar Initiative.

(2) Programs adopted, implemented, and financed in the amount of seven hundred eighty-four million dollars ($784,000,000), by charges collected by local publicly owned electric utilities pursuant to Section 387.5. Nothing in this subdivision shall give the commission power and jurisdiction with respect to a local publicly owned electric utility or its customers.

(3) Programs for the installation of solar energy systems on new construction (New Solar Homes Partnership Program), administered by the Energy Commission, and funded by charges in the amount of four hundred million dollars ($400,000,000), collected from customers of San Diego Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison Company, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. If the commission is notified by the Energy Commission that funding available pursuant to Section 25751 of the Public Resources Code for the New Solar Homes Partnership Program has been exhausted, the commission may require an electrical corporation to continue administration of the program pursuant to the guidelines established for the program by the Energy Commission, until the funding limit authorized by this paragraph has been reached. The commission, in consultation with the Energy Commission, shall supervise the administration of the continuation of the New Solar Homes Partnership Program by an electrical corporation. An electrical corporation may elect to have a third party, including the Energy Commission, administer the utility's continuation of the New Solar Homes Partnership Program. After the exhaustion of funds, the Energy Commission shall notify the Joint Legislative Budget Committee 30 days prior to the continuation of the program.

(4) The changes made to this subdivision by the act adding this paragraph do not authorize the levy of a charge or any increase in the amount collected pursuant to any existing charge, nor do the changes add to, or detract from, the commission's existing authority to levy or increase charges.

(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 356, Sec. 48. Effective September 26, 2013.)