San Francisco Allocates $3 Million for PV Incentives

San Francisco officials hope to lead the nation in the installation of rooftop photovoltaic systems by having 10,000 systems in place within a decade. (About 770 systems are currently installed.) The City’s Board of Supervisors has approved $3 million per year for ten years to provide taxable incentive payments to residents and businesses installing new systems on existing buildings.

Residents can receive $3,000–$6,000 for systems of at least 1 kilowatt, with the greater incentives going to those who hire graduates of a City workforce development program to do the installation. Businesses are eligible to receive $1,500 per kilowatt, up to $10,000 per system. The program is intended to leverage state and federal incentives; combined with those programs, the out-of-pocket costs of a three-kilowatt system could drop from $24,000 to $11,000. For more information, visit www.sfwater.org.