Good Morning, my name is Katrina Perez and I am the Non-Residential program manager for the CSI team. In my presentation today I’ll give you a brief overview of the Non-Res CSI program requirements, some program statistics for Non-Res that Ben touched on for the Residential program and talk about some upcoming features that will help to streamline the application process for CSI.
First I want to mention briefly the incentives available for Non-Residential systems. There’s the 30% Federal income tax credit Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System and Bonus Depreciation (business recovers investments through depreciation deductions 5 year schedule) PV is exempt from Property Tax And there’s the CA Solar Initiative Rebate which CCSE administers in SDGE territory
Not eligible: Customers who have entered into utility contracts for distributed generation (DG) services (e.g., DG installed as a distribution upgrade or replacement deferral) and who are receiving payment for those services. • Customers who have entered into agreements that entail the export and sale of electricity from the Host Customer Site. This does not include net energy metering agreements, which are allowed. Customers who have received a final interconnection authorization letter more than 12 months prior to submitting a CSI Reservation Request Form. • Publicly-owned or investor-owned gas, electricity distribution utilities or any electrical corporation (ref. Public Utility Code 218) that generates or purchases electricity or natural gas for wholesale or retail sales.
Just a quick overview the application process: There’s a 2 step process for non-res systems less than 10kW….. The 3 step process is optional for larger systems because larger projects typically need more time for contract negotiations, construction etc. To ensure there is intent to complete installation of the system, an application fee is required… CHANGE SLIDE
As you can see the larger the system, the greater the application fee amount. The application fee will be returned once the project is completed to the Host Customer.
A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is an alternative way to finance and install a solar system by paying a “third party” a pre-determined price for energy, without any upfront costs. 42% of completed commercial projects over 10kW in SDG&E territory have utilized the Power Purchase Agreement model. PPA customers of late have been gov’t / public entities which are established institutions who are unable to take advantage of the federal tax credits. What is a Solar Leasing Agreement? A Solar Leasing Agreement is a way to pay for ownership of a solar system and/or use over time, usually with intention of purchasing the system or renewing the lease at the end of the term. We are seeing more of these types of agreements on the Residential side. About 4% of completed installed projects in SDGE territory have been under Lease Agreements.
We have 2 types of incentive payments. The first is the Upfront incentive, also known as the EPBB incentive. The payment is paid after the project is completed and the payment claim is approved by CCSE. This incentive is available for systems less than 50kW. Currently the incentives for commercial systems in SDGE territory is $1.55 per watt installed Gov’t / Non-profit entities receive $2.30 per watt installed The reason Gov’t / Non-profit entities receive a higher incentive is because they do not receive the tax credit benefits.
The second type of incentive payment is called PBI and is based on the actual performance of the system. Any system can opt into PBI, but it is currently mandatory for systems >=50kW. Beginning January 1 st 2010 systems >=30kW will be required to receive PBI payments. The payments are made monthly over a 5 year period base on production. A customer is required to contract with a qualified third party to monitor the system production who then submits the results to CCSE monthly for payment. Currently the incentives for commercial systems pay $.22 per kWh while government / non-profit entities receive $.32.
Here is a snapshot of the CSI Trigger Tracker showing the most up to date information regarding the MW remaining in the current step. As you can see as of yesterday we have 15.83 MW in step 5, we’ve issued 4.97 MW with 10.85MW remaining. Since 2.25 MW are currently under review, one can estimate about 8.6 MW left in the step.
So similar to what Ben was looking at, we see CCSE’s Non-Residential application status in comparison to the other PA’s. We currently have 12.7 MW installed in the program and 14.5 MW pending.
Here is a look at the same data where you can see more clearly the progress toward statewide goals. SDGE territory is the smallest territory of the 3 investor owned utilities; therefore less MW are allocated to our region. But the graph shows that we are not far behind PG&E when comparing the % of meeting MW goals and we are ahead of SCE.
Here’s a look at the MW capacity of applications received from the beginning of the program until now. The spikes occur around the step change. As you can see we have a rise in applications for the month of September, given past trends I would anticipate a step change before the end of the year. I’m not going to show the number of applications received because the data is so inconsistent. For Non-Residential projects 10 applications may reserve 1 MW or 10 MW.
Here you can see that the City of San Diego leads the territory in future projects to be installed with about 29%. Next is Santee who have projects equaling 16.8%
Regarding installed Non-Residential Projects, San Diego leads the territory with 4.2 MW which is 33%. The City of Poway has installed 1.2 MW, which is almost 10% of non-res installed in SDGE territory.
The Future of CSI is Paperless applications The program hopes to go paperless by January 1 st 2010.
We’re going paperless the primary reasons to: Reduce the carbon footprint of the program by printing less paper, and reducing the transportation of documents by carbon emitting vehicles. Another reason is to become more efficient and reduce costs
Here is what the new process would look like. The applicant would first fill in forms using powerclerk Prepare supporting documentation and then attach / upload the documents straight into the tool. From there, the PAs can review the application quickly and easily.
The next feature is the Data Upload Feature which allows external software programs to upload application data straight to Powerclerk. Many installers have programs that autopopulate our excel forms. This feature will streamline the process for all so that neither the Applicant nor the Administrator will have to reenter all of the customer information into the tool. Both this feature and the application document upload feature is currently being developed by our programmers. We expect to begin testing the features in the next week and hope to release by November. CCSE and the other PAs will provide training for applicants in the future.